3-man panel created to look into CA bribery try

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court on Monday created a three-man panel of retired justices that will investigate the bribery issue in connection to the Court of Appeals’ controversial ruling on the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) leadership row. The panel, created during an en banc meeting of the high court, will be led by retired Justice Carol Griño-Aquino and has former Justices Flerida Ruth Romero and Romeo Calleja Sr as members. The panel will start its investigation on Thursday, August 7, and is expected to submit a report on or before Aug. 21. "They will investigate the propriety of actions of the justices in the decisions of the Court of Appeals and also the allegations of the attempt to bribe a justice of the Court of Appeals," SC spokesman Midas Marquez said. The appelate court, headed by Presiding Judge Conrado Vasquez Jr, turned over the case to SC after an en banc session last Thursday. Three Supreme Court justices - Chief Justice Reynato Puno; and Associates Justice Consuelo Ynares-Santiago and Antonio Carpio - inhibited themselves from the inquiry. Puno said he has a daughter working at the office of CA Justice Jose Sabio Jr, who disclosed the bribe offer to him last week. Santiago, on the other hand, said she has a daughter working for Meralco, while Carpio's former law firm, Carpio, Villaraza, Angangco Law Office, had acted as counsel for the power firm. The CA was mired in the controversy when Sabio said in a six-page letter to Vasquez dated July 26 that a businessman tried to broker for one of the parties in the feud between Meralco and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) by offering him P10 million so he would give way to the 8th Division’s Associate Justice Bienvenido Reyes. Reyes ruled in favor of Meralco. A day after his revelation, Francis Roa De Borja, who claimed to be the businessman Sabio was referring to, surfaced and accused the magistrate of sticking to the Meralco case because he was promised a promotion to the Supreme Court by the government. De Borja said he knew Sabio early on when the latter was still a regional trial court. De Borja even claimed that Sabio once accepted P300,000 from him in appreciation for Sabio’s alleged help in a real property transaction. De Borja also alleged that Sabio had told him that he was under a lot of pressure from the government side regarding the Meralco-GSIS case, with De Borja quoting Sabio as saying he was also offered money to favor the position of the GSIS. De Borja further claimed that Sabio said it would take P50 million pesos for him to resist the government offer.- Amita Legaspi and Johanna Camille Sisante, GMANews.TV