MANILA, Philippines—A group of employees of the Presidential Commission on Good Government has asked Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera to formally investigate PCGG Chair Camilo Sabio for alleged nepotism, abuse of authority and other irregularities.

In an October 28 letter to the justice secretary, the group calling itself “concerned PCGG employees and officials,” accused Sabio of going on expensive trips abroad, failing to liquidate a P10-million cash advance, employing "too many" consultants, among other alleged sins.

The group said Sabio personally appointed consultants which numbered 35 as of the last count, including Manolo Gorospe, a retired elections commissioner dubbed the "kissing lolo" for being involved in a sexual harassment case while with the Commission on Elections.

These consultants, all friends of Sabio, "are either retired or have been dismissed from their jobs, and nothing significant to contribute to the PCGG," the letter said.

The group said the consultants could become nuisances, making irrelevant comments whenever they were invited by Sabio to attend en banc meetings.

According to a PCGG official, who agreed with some of the letter’s contents, the consultants were being paid P25,000 a month without contributing anything to the agency.

“They were supposedly with the legal department but they were not even attending the hearings of our cases,” said the official, who asked not to be named.

The letter-senders also claimed that there was “too much nepotism” in staff appointments. They said even members of Sabio’s church group were being recommended for jobs at the PCGG.

“He has been tolerating the proliferation of employee `squatters’ at a sequestered property in Wack Wack, stating during meetings that the property should not be disposed of for the sake of these employees, many of whom are his personal appointees or recommended by relatives and friends,” the letter said.

“This is clear abuse of power and deprives others of possible employment or promotion. And yet, he often claims to be a fair and straight guy, supposedly a man of integrity,” it added.

The letter also accused Sabio of failing to liquidate a P10 million cash advance from the sequestered Independent Realty Corp.

“When asked, he would always say that this is between him and President Arroyo and he is answerable only to her,” the letter said.

The PCGG official explained that Sabio had to use the P10 million because the PCGG had not been receiving any intelligence funds for the past three years. Sabio’s only fault was that he failed to liquidate it or remit it to the national treasury, the official added.

The letter also alleged that Sabio allocated “huge amounts” for his foreign travels with one trip costing $120,000, or P6 million. It said the usual travel allocation was only from $10,000 to $30,000 for a legal director with a full delegation.

The PCGG official said that the Philippine National Bank had to put a cap on the dollar allocations for foreign trips because of Sabio’s expenses. This led to complaints from other PCGG officials who were affected by the PNB order.

The late PCGG chair Haydee Yorac had set aside funds from the recovered $683 million Marcos Swiss deposits to follow up the Marcos ill-gotten wealth cases abroad. These funds are deposited with the PNB.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer tried to get Sabio to comment but he was not answering calls on his cell phone. The PCGG spokesperson, Commissioner Jaime Bautista, is away on an official mission.

A PCGG official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter, said the issues of nepotism and other alleged cases of abuse of authority had been raised in 2006.

“These are old issues and the chairman has already answered them. In fact, there’s a pending case in the Ombudsman started by these concerned PCGG employees,” the official said.

“The chairman is only waiting for the Ombudsman to resolve the complaint,” he added.