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The personnel and lawyers of the Presidential Commission on Good
Government (PCGG) have filed a case against Camilo Sabio, the
chairman of the commission who is on leave, before the Office of the
Ombudsman over unliquidated cash advances amounting to P10.34
million.
In an interview, Assistant Ombudsman Mark
Jalandoni confirmed he received a complaint through mail together
with a separate complaint, also against Sabio, about his alleged
exorbitant foreign travel expenses from the PCGG Employees
Association and the PCGG Legal Counsels.
If that was not enough, Sabio is being asked to
explain why the agency spent P750.555 million, or about $15.5
million, for the litigation services for ill-gotten wealth cases
that were tried in the United States and Singapore from 2004 up to
the first half of 2008.
A report from the Commission on Audit showed
that of the $15.5 million, about $1.7 million was spent for the
travel expenses of PCGG officials and staff.
The Manila Times, tried but failed to get in
touch with Sabio, but a female voice answered the phone and said he
could not take calls from media at the moment.
Jalandoni said even if the two complaints from
the personnel and legal counsels of the PCGG, dated October 31, were
not formally and personally filed by a certain complainant, the
Ombudsman would still look into the veracity of the allegations
through a preliminary investigation.
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez earlier ordered
the investigation of about $1 million worth of foreign travel
expenses of Sabio’s office during the first half of this year, and
travels in the past two to three years.
Sabio, who is on his second leave after Gonzalez
barred his abrupt return to the PCGG on October 31, is also facing
disbarment over the “impropriety” of his calling his younger
brother, Associate Justice Jose Sabio Jr., to favor the Government
Service Insurance System (GSIS) in its legal fight against the
Manila Electric Company (Meralco).
It was in 2006 that the Presidential Anti-Graft
Commission started its investigation into the P10.34-million cash
advance of Sabio from the Mid-Pasig Land Development, which manages
the 18-hectare “Payanig sa Pasig “ property in Ortigas Center,
Pasig City .
Anti-graft commission Chairman Constancia de
Guzman has yet to come up with result of her agency’s
investigation. Sabio has remained silent on the issue.
This time, the commission’s employees and
lawyers are bringing Sabio’s case to the Ombudsman. They claim
Sabio violated Republic Act No. 3019 or the Anti-graft and Corrupt
Practices Act and the Revised Penal Code.
In 1986, businessman Jose Campos, through the
PCGG, surrendered various corporations and properties to the
national government, which were part of the alleged ill-gotten
assets of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos and his associates.
Included in the surrendered assets were Independent Realty Corp. and
Mid-Pasig Land.
As surrendered corporations, Independent Realty
and Mid-Pasig Land remit their income to the national treasury
through the commission.
Sabio, as member of the board of directors of
Independent Realty and Mid-Pasig Land, instructed the president of
both firms, Ernesto Jalandoni, to issue the checks under his name in
various amounts.
“These acts were all done with the
indispensable participation of Chairman Sabio’s executive
assistant, Ms. Lilia P. Yanga, who facilitated the collection and
encashment of the checks. By appropriating the amount for himself,
Chairman Sabio committed malversation of public funds as defined and
penalized under Article 217 of the Revised Penal Code,” the PCGG
personnel said in their complaint.
P750M in legal expenses
The report from the audit commission showed the
bulk of the P750.555 million in foreign litigation expenses was
incurred during the term of Sabio.
The report added that during the first half of
this year alone, the PCGG spent nearly $1 million, or around P47
million, which is more than half the agency’s current P87-million
budget.
-- Francis Earl A. Cueto
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