Sabio indicted for influence peddling

Ex-PCGG Chairman Camilo Sabio. INQUIRER file photo

State prosecutors have formally charged former Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) Chair Camilo Sabio for trying to sway his brother, a former Court of Appeals (CA) justice, in the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) ownership dispute.

Sabio was slapped with two counts of violating Section 3 (a) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, for intervening on behalf of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), which faced a case filed by Meralco before the CA in 2008.

Prosecutors said Sabio “readily” agreed to GSIS board member Jesus Santos’ request to convince his younger brother, former CA Justice Jose Sabio Jr., to block a temporary restraining order to be issued against the GSIS.

The second charge concerned the elder Sabio’s alleged conversation with his brother on May 30, 2008, when he “suggested” that the justice help GSIS, since he was the chair of the CA division that handled the case.