Businessman says CA justice asked for bribe; charge denied
Lala Rimando, abs-cbnnews.com/Newsbreak | 07/31/2008 10:45 PM
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The embattled appellate justice was not bribed P10 million by an emissary of a corporate case he was handling, but was actually the one who named his price—P50 million.
This is according to Francis Roa de Borja, a businessman and a former friend of Court of Appeals (CA) justice Jose L. Sabio, Jr.. He wrote in his July 31 affidavit that Sabio mentioned P50 million when asked, "What would it take or you to resist the government's offer?'
Sabio denied the allegation in a statement sent to news organizations. "I never asked for money," he said, adding De Borja had "twisted the facts to suit a wicked end."
In his affidavit, De Borja recalled what Sabio allegedly confided to him during an informal chat at a lobby of Ateneo Law School in Rockwell. The two were discussing the case of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), which Sabio was handling in the CA.
Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), which was representing government's consolidated stake in Meralco, is in a legal battle with the Lopez family and their allies after GSIS lost its bid for control in May.
De Borja's affidavit is another twist to the on-going account of how a decision on the Meralco case has been causing dissent among the magistrates.
The affidavit disputes Sabio's July 26 complaint letter to the appellate court's presiding justice, Conrado Vasquez, Jr., where Sabio said an emissary of Meralco offered him a P10 million bribe to give way to another magistrate for the chairmanship of the 9th division that was handling Meralco's case.
Sabio's complaint letter triggered a rare en banc meeting attended by a majority of the court's 65 magistrates, including those from Cagayan de Oro and Cebu,
In a phone interview with abs-cbnnews.com/Newsbreak, de Borja said that Sabio was "lying."
He said, he said
De Borja wrote that Sabio told him in two occasions—a phone call and the chat in Ateneo—how the government was pressuring him after the 9th division, where he was a substitute chairman, issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) in May favoring the Lopez-led board.
De Borja wrote that "[Sabio] told me about the blandishments coming from the government side. He (Sabio) said that he was being offered a promotion to the Supreme Court and money to favor the GSIS position."
The two were reportedly discussing about how Sabio, who also consulted his colleagues, thought that he should remain the Acting chairman of the division handling the Meralco case.
In his complaint letter, Sabio said that in July 1, a Makati-based businessman "who was brokering for Meralco," tried to negotiate a "win-win situation" between him and Justice Bienvenido Reyes, the original chairman of the 9th division, on who should continue to handle the case after Reyes returned from his leave.
The win-win situation, Sabio wrote, included the offer of "P10 million to give way to Justice Reyes."
Sabio said, "I politely declined the offer and told the emissary that it was not only a matter of principle but that it will affect the integrity of the court."
Sabio said that three days after, on July 4, "that emissary frantically tried calling me. To put an end to the pestering calls, I told the emissary that to accept that offer would not only bother my conscience forever, but also that I could not possibly face my wife, my two daughters—one a lawyer and the other a Bar candidate, as well as the rest of my family."
Sabio then cited that he was a member of various groups that evaluate ethical issues, including the Philippine Judicial Academy's Ethics and Judicial Conduct Department and the Ateneo Law School's Pre-Bar review on Legal and Judicial Ethics.
De Borja admitted to abs-cbnnews.com/Newsbreak that he did call Sabio's mobile phone several times not to represent any of the disputing parties in the case, but simply to get more information about the high profile and controversial corporate case.
"I called up Justice Sabio to chitchat on the Meralco/GSIS/SEC case because it was hogging (sic) the headlines, and to hear what was happening, so to speak, directly from the horse's mouth."
He said he was incensed by the idea that the government, through GSIS, would want to take over a private company, like Meralco. "I told Justice Sabio that it was obvious that the government was doing this in retaliation for the news coverage by ABS-CBN of the Administration."
De Borja said when he posed the question, "What would it take for you to resist the government's offer," referring to the seat at the Supreme Court and the promise of monetary consideration, he was expecting that Sabio would say something about standing up to the government's efforts.
"I was taken aback by the answer of Justice Sabio and the huge amount he had mentioned that I was at a loss for words to say," he wrote in his affidavit.
De Borja denied, however, that he was Meralco's emissary. "I am not brokering for Meralco. They have my sympathies, but I am not brokering for them."
Who is De Borja?
The 67-year old Makati-based businessman is engaged in packaging real estate and other deals. He described himself to abs-cbnnews.com/Newsbreak as someone who "used to be managing companies who has morphed into entrepreneurship." He said he used to run a banana plantation and paper mill.
In his affidavit, he wrote, "Among other things, I have been engaged in the past in the sale and purchase of real properties, manufacturing companies, brokering contacts, and in general, deal making and project packaging from which I would stand to gain a fee for my efforts."
He said he met Sabio sometime in 1993 when he was putting together a real estate deal in Cagayan de Oro City. The property is owned by a relative, the late congressman Pedro Roa, who had children from several wives.
He said Sabio, who was then a judge at the regional trial court in Cagayan de Oro, was providing legal advice to the Roa's children who were selling the property. He said Roa's other children were putting a claim to the property.
De Borja said he had a buyer, but the sales contract could not be signed without the resolution of the legal problems. He said Sabio helped him and congressman Roa during the course of the negotiations with the warring children.
De Borja wrote in his affidavit that "after I received my fee for the transaction, I gave P300,000 to Judge Sabio in appreciation of the efforts he had undertaken towards the successful completion of the transaction."
De Borja said they continued their friendship after Sabio was transferred to the Court of Appeals in 1999, and that they met for lunch or dinner in Manila for two or three times a year.
Deal maker
Rufo Colayco, former president of Bases Conversion Development Authority and the Clark Development Corporation, described de Borja as one who is "socially well-placed" and "has connections everywhere."
He said de Borja is a nephew of Geronimo Velasco, former energy secretary during the martial law reign of president Ferdinand Marcos.
Colayco, who was the chief executive officer of the Kuok Group of Companies, which owns the Shangri-La hotel chain, from 1989 to 1997 before joining government, said he once tapped de Borja for the purchase of a 1,100-hectare property in Carmona, Cavite.
"He helped me consolidate the property so we would just be buying an entire block, instead of separate properties. He was close to a lot of prominent people in Cavite…He had the patience to talk to the claimants."
"He was at the right place at the right time," Colayco said.
