Justice Camilo Sabio shot himself, as well as the Court of Appeals, in the foot, when he revealed the well-kept secret at the appellate court: case-fixing.

Nobody would have offered Sabio a P10-million bribe (but the guy who allegedly offered the bribe said he asked for P50 million) if some appellate justices didn?t accept bribes from litigants.

Since there were reports of cases in the appellate court of being sold to the highest bidders, naturally an attempt would be made to bribe him for a well-publicized case concerning the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco).

Case-fixing at the appellate court is no longer news, as former litigants who have won cases in the court by bribing certain justices will tell you.

This column has been denouncing case-fixing in the Court of Appeals for a long time now.

The public should rejoice that case-fixing in the appellate court has been exposed by one of its members.

At least now, case-fixing may be minimized.

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I have several Deep Throats at the Court of Appeals, and they told me that Sabio?s revelation didn?t endear him to his colleagues and the rank and file.

There are allegations from court employees that he?s not immaculately clean himself for him to tell on his colleagues.

Well! As they say in the police, only a criminal can rat on his fellow criminals because he knows their modus operandi.

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In a rare en banc session ? meaning all justices were in attendance ? the Court of Appeals failed to resolve the issue of ?propriety? involving certain justices? actions in the Meralco vs GSIS case.

Instead, it passed the problem to the Supreme Court.

Why couldn?t the Court of Appeals resolve the problem?

The answer is simple: There are many allegations that almost everybody at the appellate court is tainted. They go with the tenet that only the innocent among them could cast the first stone.

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Why did they have to pay a maximum of P22,000 each to hear former New York Mayor Rudolph ?Rudy? Giuliani speak on ?Leadership in Times of Crisis? when we don?t lack local talents?

Sen. Richard Gordon. Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. Cebu Gov. Lito Osmeña. These people showed exemplary leadership when they were confronted by crises in their turfs.

Gordon was mayor of Olongapo City during the 1991 Pinatubo eruption and czar of the rehabilitation of Subic Naval Base after it was vacated by the US Navy.

In 1990, Cebu province was devastated by a strong typhoon. ?We will recover from the ruins,? Osmeña said. In several months, the province recovered and even become a top tourist destination.

Duterte led his city through its worst crisis a few years ago when two bombs exploded at the airport and the wharf one after the other, killing scores of people. Now, Davao City is the safest place in the country.

Why did we have to import Giuliani, who led New York City, in the wake of the ?911? terrorist attack, when we have leaders who could match ? even surpass ? his leadership skills?

We can listen to Gordon, Osmeña and Duterte talk about their experiences ? for free.

What?s wrong with us Filipinos is our ?colonial mentality.? Anything American or European is better than ours.

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Environment Secretary Lito Atienza has assured four mountain tribes in Mindanao of their right to mine their ancestral land.

He said the government would protect their mining claim.

The tribes are the Manobo, Mandaya, Debabawon and Mangguangan of Compostela Valley.

Their leaders went to see Atienza in his office a few days ago.