CA holds rare en banc session to resolve rift on Meralco case
abs-cbnnews.com | 07/31/2008 11:14 AM
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More than 60 appellate justices, some of them flying in from Cebu and Cagayan de Oro, are expected to attend the en banc session called by Court of Appeals Presiding Justice Conrado Vasquez, Jr. Reports said this is the first time that all CA justices will meet to discuss serious and sensitive issues such as the claim of Justice Jose Sabio, Jr. that he was offered a P10 million bribe to let go of a case involving two warring major shareholders of Manila Electric Co. (MERALCO)
The Court of Appeals is set to begin Thursday morning a rare en banc session to resolve issues raised by Justice Jose Sabio, Jr. in connection with the appellate court’s decision on a corporate case.
These two MERALCO major shareholders were the Lopez family and the government, led by Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).
Reports said the en banc session would not likely affect the CA resolution the MERALCO but would merely resolve the rift among the justices.
The en banc also aims to put to rest the rumors of payoffs within the appellate court, reports said.
Sabio’s formal complaint regarding the CA resolution on the management fight in MERALCO triggered Vasquez to call the en banc meeting.
In his complaint, Sabio, who originally heard the MERALCO case, alleged that he had been ousted from the legal battle. Justices Bienvenido Reyes and Vicente Roxas had issued a decision favoring the Lopez-led MERALCO board.
In his July 24 letter to Reyes and Roxas, Vasquez basically favored Sabio.
Vasquez wrote that two members of their newly reconstituted 8th division were not very familiar with the case.
Vasquez earlier gave Sabio a verbal go-signal to proceed in hearing the June 23 oral argument between the Lopez family and GSIS.
In his letter, he again reiterated that Sabio’s 9th division, since it issued a temporary restraining order (TRO), and its members heard and participated in the June 23 hearing, should "sign and resolve" the case.
"To allow the new division of Justice B.L. Reyes as Chairman, Justice Roxas, as ponente, and Justice Bruselas, Jr. as the third member, the resolution of the pending incidents in the case will be participated by two members who were not present and did not hear the arguments during the hearing on the injunctive relief," he said. Marieton Pacheco, ABS-CBN News with a reports from Lala Rimando, abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak
