MANILA, Philippines—Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) Chair Camilo Sabio will be called to appear before a Supreme Court panel investigating the raging scandal involving justices of the Court of Appeals (CA).

The panel chair, retired Supreme Court Justice Carolina Griño-Aquino, granted the request of lawyer Miguel Armovit to call to the stand the PCGG chair, who is the elder brother of CA Justice Jose Sabio Jr.

Armovit, lawyer of businessman Francis de Borja, made the request in the wake of Jose Sabio’s admission that his brother had phoned him more than once regarding the case between Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).

In an affidavit, Jose Sabio said his brother first phoned him on May 30 to convince him to side with the GSIS in its dispute with Meralco for control of the power utility.

He said that after the July 23 decision in favor of Meralco was handed down, his brother called him again to ask why he was not among those who signed the decision.

Jose Sabio subsequently disclosed in a letter to CA Presiding Justice Conrado Vasquez Jr. that he had rejected a P10-million offer from a man “brokering for Meralco” to inhibit himself and pave the way for Justice Bienvenido Reyes to chair the division that would rule on the case.