SC upholds ruling vs ex-PCGG chair Sabio over 2008 impropriety scandal

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 24) — The Supreme Court (SC) has affirmed a lower court’s finding that a former chairman of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) is administratively liable for his “unethical intervention” in a 2008 case.

The high court on Friday said it denied Camilo Sabio’s petition for review, where he assailed the Court of Appeals’ (CA) ruling that he is guilty of “grave misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.”

Sabio was accused of attempting to influence the judicial discretion of his brother, then CA Justice Jose Sabio, Jr., in a case between the Manila Electric Company and the Government Service Insurance System.

Earlier, the Ombudsman said this was a “flagrant disregard" of legal and ethical rules, while the CA affirmed Sabio’s liability, prompting him to seek relief from the SC.

The SC, however, also ruled that Sabio committed both offenses and “tainted the image and integrity of the appellate arm of the judiciary, ultimately compromising the public trust that he had sworn to serve and preserve.”

Since he is no longer a government official and cannot be slapped with the penalty of dismissal, the SC ordered that Sabio's civil service eligibility instead be cancelled and his retirement benefits be forfeited.

The new ruling also means that the 87-year-old former PCGG chairman is perpetually disqualified from re-employment in the government and barred from taking the civil service examinations.