SC affirms ex-PCGG chair Sabio guilty of grave misconduct

The Supreme Court has upheld the ruling of the Court of Appeals and Ombudsman finding former Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) chairperson Camilo Sabio guilty of grave misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best Interest of the service.

In a decision released Friday, the High Court said Sabio has been found administratively liable for unethical intervention in the case between the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) then pending before the CA.

It dismissed Sabio’s petition for review on certiorari assailing the CA ruling.

“The Court found that Chairperson Sabio committed both offenses when he used his position, power, and influence as the head of a very important agency not just to achieve his unprofessional objectives, but to willingly create this undue impression that justice is not at all blind, but can easily be distorted and manipulated at the will of the powerful and the ‘connected’,” the SC said in a statement.

“Chairperson Sabio’s actions not only “seriously prejudiced the best interest of his public position and the government office he represented, but also 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,” it added.

Since Sabio is no longer employed in the government and cannot be dismissed from government service, the High Court ordered that the penalties accessory to dismissal from service imposable upon him be recorded in his 201 File in the Civil Service Commission.

This means cancellation of Sabio’s civil service eligibility and forfeiture of his retirement benefits.

Likewise, Sabio is perpetually disqualified from re-employment in any branch or instrumentality of the government, including any government-owned or controlled corporations, as well as perpetually barred from taking the civil service examinations.—Llanesca Panti/AOL, GMA Integrated News