SC panel probe of Meralco case heats up with grilling of CA justice

The investigation by a three-member panel created by the Supreme Court to look into the Court of Appeals’ handling of the Manila Electric Co. case continued to heat up yesterday as Justice Vicente Roxas, ponente of the decision, was grilled by panel members and a fellow member of the dissolved Special Ninth Division.

Taking the witness stand, Roxas was questioned by retired justice Flerida Ruth Romero on why he went to the chambers of Justice Myrna Vidal, member of the dissolved Special Ninth Division, last July 8 with a draft of the supposed decision that he allegedly asked her to sign.

Romero said Vidal is part of the division that should have promulgated the case following the CA’s reorganization last July 4 and Roxas should have recognized that it was inappropriate to do it.

“Why did you bring this to Justice Vidal to sign when there was already a reorganization going on?” asked Romero.

Roxas responded that he only brought the draft decision to Vidal’s chambers not to be signed by her, but because she requested to “take a peek at it.”

“It was not for signature. It was an innocent request to read it,” he said.

“She was with me in the division. She was a nice lady and she asked me if she could read it,” he added.

It was at this point that Vidal flared up and shouted to Roxas that she had made no such request.

“You came to me on July 8. Never did I request that I wanted to peek at your decision,” Vidal said.

She said that the document shown to her by Roxas was not a draft, but had the “earmarks” of a panel decision.

“There was also a certification that I concurred with the decision,” she said.

Roxas then retorted that what he had shown Vidal was unofficial and was rendered moot as there was no rollo (case records) involved.

Vidal then told the panel that Roxas was aware that what he had shown her was the final draft.

“He knows that it was the final decision. He is just heaping lies to cover his escape. Because of your denials, my staff has given you a moniker, the ‘denial king,’” she said.

Romero then quizzed Roxas on the apparent haste to have the draft of the decision signed despite the fact that his “interpleader petition” was still pending at the office of Presiding Justice Conrado Vasquez Jr.

“There was already a decision when you asked PJ (Vasquez) for his opinion by way of an interpleader? It excites suspicion why the seeming haste? This may even sow seeds of suspicion in the minds of others,” said Romero.

In that “interpleader petition” dated July 21, 2008, Roxas asked PJ Vasquez to decide which division – the dissolved Special Ninth or the present Eighth Division – should handle the case as the temporary restraining order issued by the CA would expire on July 30.

Meanwhile, businessman Francis Roa de Borja, through his lawyers, asked the SC panel to summon Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) chairman Camilo Sabio and allow him to testify on his alleged attempt to influence the decision of his younger brother on the Meralco case.

The panel granted the request, but gave no specific date when the subpoena on PCGG chairman Sabio would be served as he is still in Brazil on official mission.

Justice Sabio admitted during a panel hearing that the PCGG chief called him last May 30 and informed him that he would be the third member of the division to hear the Meralco case.

Justice Sabio also testified that his brother tried to convince him of the “rightness of the stand” of the GSIS and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Justice Sabio said he told his brother that he would be voting according to his conscience and, at the most, would call for the conduct of oral arguments on the case.