MANILA - A P30 million bribe was offered for the acquittal of former Calauan, Laguna Mayor Antonio Sanchez in his rape-murder case, the judge who sentenced Sanchez said.

Former Pasig Regional Trial Court Judge Harriett Demetriou told ABS-CBN News that someone acting on Sanchez's behalf approached her when she was still handling the rape and murder cases of Eileen Sarmenta and Allan Gomez.

"There was this sculptor who went to see me, at sinabi niya: 'Judge bakla si Sanchez, it's impossible na he'll be guilty of that thing'. So ang sabi niya, 'You know Judge, pumunta na lang kayo ng America. Kumuha na lang kayo ng P30 million at saka para wala lahat na ito na kaso," Demetriou said.

But Demetriou said she refused to be bribed.

"So I said: 'May anak ka ba na babae?' 'Meron.' 'Eh anong gagawin mo kung 'yung huwes na naglilitis ng kaso ng anak mo e tatanggap ng suhol?' 'Papatayin ko.' 'Eh bakit ka nagsasabi sa akin ng ganun?'" she said.

Demetriou has called plans to free Sanchez for good conduct as a "mockery of justice" and a "cruel joke."

She also blasted Senator Ronald dela Rosa's statement that Sanchez was a "changed man."

Dela Rosa, former chief of the Bureau of Corrections, said corrections officers had been seeing Sanchez wearing skirts, which proved that the convicted rapist killer was not a bully anymore.

"Exterior 'yan eh. Change is always interior," Demetriou said.

- Report from Thea Omelan, ABS-CBN News