Mike Arroyo's lawyer lobbied for GSIS in battle for Meralco
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 08/26/2008 2:01 PM
Printer-friendly version | 
Send to friend | 
Share your views
Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) Chairman Camilo Sabio faced the Supreme Court panel Tuesday after his name was dragged into the issue following a phone call he made to his brother, Court of Appeals (CA) Justice Jose Sabio last May 30 regarding the Meralco-Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) case.
Chairman Sabio admitted to the panel this morning that it was a call for help from Atty. Jess Santos, a member of the board of trustees of the GSIS and also lawyer for First Gentleman Jose Miguel 'Mike' Arroyo, that prompted him to get in touch with his younger brother.
Chairman Sabio admitted that Santos called him that same day, informed him that the Meralco-GSIS issue was already at the CA and asked for his help.
Santos did not specify what kind of help should be extended, but Chairman Sabio understood it as a cue to call his brother Justice Sabio and try to convince him of the GSIS's position.
The GSIS wanted the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to issue a cease and desist order that would stop the election of a new Meralco board.
"Help if you can do it legitimately," were the exact words that Chairman Sabio told his younger brother at the CA who, at that time, was already one of the justices handling the Meralco case.
Throughout Tuesday's morning hearing, however, Chairman Sabio stood firm on his decision that there was nothing wrong with what he did.
But members of the investigative panel, composed of retired Supreme Court justices Flerida Ruth Romero, Romeo Callejo, and Carolina Aquino, questioned him repeatedly on various laws and professional responsibility, judicial ethics and conduct that he may have violated when he called and tried to influence his brother.
But Chairman Sabio said his situation was peculiar, and both he and Justice Sabio insisted that there was nothing wrong with it because they merely discussed the matter as brothers and that there was no guarantee that one would listen to the other anyway.
"Definitely nothing wroing with what I did. That's my opinion. It's a matter of opinion. Others may disagree but as I have said, it's a matter of opinion. If it were wrong, if I thought it was wrong I would not have done it," PCGG Chair Sabio said.
CA Justice Sabio, meanwhile, said: "I'm a younger brother, tinawagan ako ng kapatid ko, elder brother at saka wala naman siyang ...hindi naman niya ako pinilit. In fact sabi ko nga sa kanya, I will vote according to my conscience. Saka in-issue ko yung TRO. That's shows na wala talaga siyang magawa sa akin. He did not really do anything to persuade me."
By issuing the TRO, the CA prevented the SEC from carrying out its order stopping the election of a new Meralco board. The election allowed the Lopez family to maintain control of the country's largest power firm and staved off an attempt by GSIS chief Winston Garcia to take over the power firm.
Members of the panel expressed how they are bothered with Chairman Sabio's insistence that there was nothing wrong with the phone call he made. -- report from MARIETON PACHECO, ABS-CBN News
abs-cbnNEWS.com is the online news department of ABS-CBN Interactive Inc., a subsidiary of ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp., part of the Lopez Group of Companies.
