SC grants provisional release for ex-PCGG chief Sabio

Camilo Sabio, the former chief of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), was allowed by the Supreme Court to be provisionally released, citing humanitarian reasons.

Sabio was found guilty by the Sandiganbayan of graft in 2019 and was arrested in 2020. He was sentenced to six to 10 years of imprisonment and perpetual disqualification from holding public office.

Sabio was convicted after he attempted to influence his younger brother, former Court of Appeals Justice Jose Sabio, to rule in favor of GSIS. The older Sabio served as a middleman between a GSIS official and his brother, who refused to be swayed.

Why was he freed?

The SC First Division ruled in a 9-page notice of a resolution released on Monday, December 20, that Sabio was granted the provisional release upon paying a cash bond of P200,000.

The SC acknowledged that Sabio was “in his twilight and illness-laden years.” Before the SC decision, Sabio was allowed by the Sandiganbayan in September 2020 to be confined in a hospital before he was cleared by doctors to serve his sentence.

“There is no indication that he is a flight risk for he is no longer even ambulatory. Nor does he pose a danger of being a repeat offender since he had long ceased to be in government service. His continuous incarceration will not do any good to his already failing health, let alone, to society in general,” the High Court said in its ruling. – Rappler.com