Camilo Sabio

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Camilo Sabio is a public lawyer and current chairman of the Philippines' Presidential Commission on Good Government. He previously held the position of Secretary-General in the Philippine House of Representatives from 1992 to 1998 under Jose de Venecia.

In the 1998 elections, Sabio ran for the position of Vice President as a running mate of lottery company manager Manuel Morato under the Partido Bansang Marangal (National Dignity Party). He however lost to Senator Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. He served as president of the Philippine Constitutional Association (PhilConsA) from 1998 to 2002. He was appointed by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as chairman of the PCGG in 2005 when its previous chairman, Haydee Yorac died of ovarian cancer.

The militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) is now calling for the resignation of Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) chair Camilo Sabio for saying that he is open to a compromise agreement on the P130 billion-coconut levy fund with Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr. He is also accused of using PCGG sequestered companies as milking cows to enrich favored people.

According to Ka Willy Marbella, internal deputy secretary general of KMP, “we will no longer wait for another attack on coconut farmers rights, we are now asking for Sabio’s resignation from the PCGG, it is obvious that he is not looking after the interest of the small coconut farmers as well as Filipino taxpayers. It seems that the PCGG now is becoming the Judas of coconut farmers. Camilo Sabio is wasting the work of former PCGG chair Haydee Yorac in returning the entire P130 billion coco levy fund to its rightful owners, the small coconut farmers. Our position is no to any compromise deal,”

“Just as we feared Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo through her newly appointed lackeys in the PCGG and the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) are now jostling and salivating to get the coco levy funds. More than anything else what we coconut farmers want is justice. We want those who fooled us and used the funds for their own interest to rot in jail. What Sabio is proposing is anathema to the formation of the PCGG itself,” added the peasant leader.

“Sabio and Bishop Fernando Capalla are essentially exonerating the high and mighty crooks especially Danding Cojuangco, who stole the money from us. We will not allow this to happen,” said Marbella.

“What we propose is the creation of a body composed of genuine small coconut farmers to manage and handle the funds ourselves so that we can ensure that it is used for the betterment of our sector and the coconut industry. In fact a bill is already in Congress regarding this body and we hope that it will be fast-tracked,” ended Marbella.

On September 12, 2006, the Philippine Senate arrested Sabio for ignoring subpoena from the Senate to attend its hearing in aid of legislation with regards the dissipation of Philcomsat shares, a corporation sequestered from the Marcoses. Sabio and the commissioners of PCGG are accused of dissipating funds from the sequestered properties which form part and parcel of the massive ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses.