Sandigan nixes ex-PCGG chair’s bid to dismiss case

MANILA, Philippines — The anti-graft court Sandiganbayan has denied the motion of former Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) chairman Camilo Sabio to dismiss a criminal case for his alleged failure to liquidate cash advances in 2008.

“After a careful study, the Court rules that the motion to dismiss the information is unwarranted,” read the two-page resolution promulgated by the Sandigan’s Second Division on Sept. 18.

The Office of the Ombudsman charged Sabio with failure to render accounts under Article 218 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC). The case stemmed from cash advances totaling P350,000 for “field and activity operating expenses” in relation to Sabio’s supposed official functions as PCGG chairman.

Sabio allegedly received the cash advances in two checks dated Dec. 15 and Dec. 23, 2008. The ombudsman said he failed to render or liquidate the cash advances within two months after the deadline, in violation of the Commission on Audit rules.

In denying Sabio’s motion, the Second Division found no merit in his argument that the prescriptive period to charge him for unliquidated cash advances is only four years and since the alleged crime was in 2008, the prescriptive period had already lapsed.

“First, the movant is charged in this case with violation of Article 218 of the Revised Penal Code, or Failure of Accountable Officer to Render Accounts, for which the penalty prescribed by law is ‘prision correctional in its minimum period, or by fine ranging from 200 to 600 pesos, or both’,” the Second Division said.

“Under Article 90 of the RPC...offenses ‘punishable by correctional penalty shall prescribe in 10 years.’ Hence, from the date of alleged commission of the crime charged (up) to the filing of the information...the 10 years prescriptive period has not yet expired,” it added.

The court also found no weight in Sabio’s claim that his constitutional right against double jeopardy was violated as he had earlier been charged by the ombudsman with three counts of malversation of public funds in connection with his alleged failure to liquidate litigation-related cash advances in 2008 and 2009 amounting to P632,428, which were dismissed by the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division in October 2017.

“Anent the claim of double jeopardy, suffice it to emphasize that the crime of Malversation of Public Funds under Article 217 of the RPC, with which movant was charged...is totally different from the offense of Failure of Accountable Office to Render Accounts under Article 218 of the RPC charged in this case. The elements of the two offenses are different from each other,” the Second Division said.

In June 2017, Sabio was convicted of graft by the Sandiganbayan First Division in connection with the anomalous car lease deals that the PCGG entered with the United Coconut Planters Bank in 2007 and 2009 amounting P12.127 million. 

He was sentenced to a minimum of 12 years to a maximum of 20 years of imprisonment. The Supreme Court upheld Sabio’s conviction in a decision promulgated last July 15.