MANILA - The Sandiganbayan has ordered the arrest of former Presidential Commission on Good Government chairman Camilo Sabio after his appeal on his conviction for graft was denied by the court.

In a resolution dated Jan. 27, 2020, the court said a warrant of arrest should be issued against Sabio after the Sandiganbayan denied his motion for reconsideration over his graft conviction for influence peddling at the Court of Appeals.

In his appeal, Sabio invoked the principle of double jeopardy as he was acquitted in a related graft case.

“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 court said in the resolution penned by Associate Justice Reynaldo Cruz, with the concurrence of Division Chairperson Alex Quiroz and Associate Justice Bayani Jacinto.

Sabio was convicted on Nov. 29, 2019 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 Meralco.

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“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 said in its ruling last year.

The court also ordered the cancellation of Sabio’s post-promulgation bond.