THE Department of Justice will investigate the involvement of some personnel of the Bureau of Immigration who allegedly aided more than 70 out of the 1,316 arrested undocumented Chinese nationals in illegal online casinos at the Clark Freeport in Pampanga.
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Thursday ordered the BI to find out the circumstances behind the escape and possible liability of personnel who had custody of the illegal workers arrested last November 25.
BI Commissioner Jaime Morente himself gave assurances there would be no whitewash in the deportation proceedings against the arrested Chinese nationals, adding “they will undergo deportation proceedings and their cases will be decided on the merits and the evidence to be presented.”
Aguirre said “I am sure heads will roll,” disclosing he got information some of the arrested Chinese each offered P100,000 to P250,000 for their individual release.
At around 3 a.m., over 70 of the Chinese nationals were able to escape by supposedly jumping over the walls of their temporary detention facility at Fontana Leisure Park and Casino Hotel.
More than half of them were either rearrested or have returned with only 26 detainees who remained missing as of Thursday.
Aguirre, who exercises administrative supervision over the BI, said the detainees—reportedly guarded by Special Action Force operatives—would not have been able to escape without the aid of authorities.
“Why should they escape if nobody facilitated it? I’m sure some people helped them,” he stressed.
“Actually, there are many syndicates there in the BI,” Aguirre said.
The DoJ chief said the 1,316 Chinese were temporarily detained in Fontana because they could not be accommodated at the BI jail in Taguig City.
Aguirre added those without passports would be immediately deported to China while some of them have applied for bail in courts.
Meanwhile, Aguirre clarified there was no actual bribery attempt on him by casino junket operator and Fontana owner Jack Lam, contrary to a newspaper report.
The report suggested Lam supposedly attempted to pay Aguirre off during a meeting at the Bonifacio Global City on Nov. 26, after the arrest of the Chinese nationals in his resort.
However, Aguirre said there was no direct act of bribery from Lam’s henchman, former police general-turned-poker legend Wally Sombero.
He recalled Sombero only informed him that Lam had no “caretaker” for a long time and asked him if he could be the tycoon’s “godfather.”
“It was only a perception [of bribery]. Before you can accuse someone, there should be overt act of bribery. There was none so we cannot investigate or charge them,” Aguirre pointed out.
Contrary to the report, he said there was also no mention of P100 million during their meeting at a five-star hotel in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.
He said he ignored the offer of Sombero, who is also an asset of DoJ in its probe on illegal online gambling operations in the country.
“I know myself I couldn’t be bribed, that’s why I wasn’t afraid to meet them,” Aguirre said.
He also revealed that Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. chairman Andrea Domingo told him about a similar offer from Lam’s camp—to allow Fontana to continue its online gaming operations while applying for a license in exchange for one-percent commission from the income of the gaming operations.
But Aguirre admitted his information on the offer to Domingo would be hearsay.
He said he would let other appropriate government agencies to investigate the liabilities of Lam and the illegal gaming firms for operating without license from Pagcor.
Aguirre said they found that Lam was not the owner of the raided online casinos, which were only renting inside his resort.
At a press briefing, Aguirre gave assurances that heads would roll after the probe had been conducted while Morente assured there would be no whitewash of the investigation.
Those arrested were allegedly employed to operate online gambling operations that catered mostly to high rollers from Mainland China.
Morente gave the assurance following reports that bribes were being offered for the release of the Chinese nationals who were nabbed inside the Fontana Leisure Park and Casino Hotel.
The BI has been tasked to determine who should be held responsible for the escape of the illegal Chinese workers.
Aguirre said these Chinese aliens would not think of escaping if they were not being manipulated by some individuals.
Aguirre said the Chinese consul had been cooperating with authorities to the extent of directing the leaders of the arrested Chinese workers to convince those who escaped to surrender or face the possibility of imprisonment and being blacklisted in the Philippines and China.
Aguirre also clarified that Macau-based gaming tycoon Lam and his interpreter and former police general Wally Sombrero could not be held liable for bribery despite asking him to serve as “ninong” to protect Lam’s gaming operations in the country.
Contrary to earlier reports, Aguirre said it was only Sombrero and not Lam who talked to him about the matter during their meeting at Shangri-La Hotel at Bonifacio Global City last Nov. 26.
He said he agreed to meet with Lam’s group because of their concerns about the condition of the arrested Chinese workers.
The raid inside the Fontana Leisure Park and Casino Hotel is said to be the single biggest arrest of suspected illegal aliens in the history of the Bureau of Immigration and Philippine law enforcement.