The Sandiganbayan has affirmed its November 2019 decision convicting former chairman Camilo Sabio of the Presidential Commission on Good Government of graft.
The anti-graft court’s Fourth Division, in a resolution dated June 25 but released only on Thursday, said Sabio’s motion for reconsideration on his conviction was his second appeal and was thus a “prohibited pleading.”
Sabio was convicted for attempting to influence the decision of his brother, former Court of Appeals Justice Jose Sabio Jr., in a case involving the Government Service Insurance System and Manila Electric Co.
“The motion fails to persuade. Pursuant to Section 2, Rule 52 of the Rules of Court, no second motion for reconsideration of a judgment or final resolution by the same party should be entertained. It is conspicuous that the instant motion is a prohibited pleading under the above cited rule,” the court said in its resolution.
“Being a prohibited pleading, the second MR does not have any legal effect and does not toll the running of the period to appeal. In light of the foregoing, the Court has no reason to reverse, amend, or modify the assailed Resolution.”
National Bureau of Investigation agents earlier arrested Sabio due to his graft conviction.
The Sandiganbayan justices ruled that Sabio made the judicial admission that he received a call from lawyer Jesus Santos, a member of the Board of Trustees of the GSIS.
“In jurisprudence, judicial admissions are binding upon the party who made them,” the Sandiganbayan said.
Sabio, 83, led the PCGG in 2005 up to 2010 and racked up a number of graft charges during his watch at the commission.
