The Sandiganbayan has upheld the graft conviction of ex-Presidential Commission on Good Government chairperson Camilo Sabio and ordered his arrest.
In a Jan. 27 resolution, the anti-graft court ruled an arrest warrant must be issued against Sabio after the Sandiganbayan junked his motion for reconsideration over his graft conviction for influence peddling at the Court of Appeals.
“Jurisprudence states that the right against double jeopardy precludes only subsequent criminal proceedings, to avoid punishment for the same offense to which a person has already been convicted or acquitted,” the decision read.
Associate Justice Reynaldo Cruz, with the concurrence of Division Chairperson Alex Quiroz and Associate Justice Bayani Jacinto, penned the resolution.
On Nov. 29 last year, Sabio was convicted for mediating between Jesus Santos of the Government Service Insurance System and his brother, then CA Associate Justice Antonio who was about to handle a case between GSIS and the Manila Electric Co.
“The evidence on record confirms that accused Sabio indeed allowed himself to be persuaded and induced by Atty. Santos to call Justice Sabio for the purpose of persuading the later to favor the cause of the GSIS against Meralco,” the Sandiganbayan’s 2019 decision read.
Cruz, Quiroz and Jacinto ordered the cancellation of Sabio’s post-promulgation bond.
