RETIRED police superintendent Wally Sombero on Friday filed a graft complaint against two officials of the Bureau of Immigration before the Office of the Ombudsman for allegedly extorting P50 million from a casino tycoon.
Sombero sued Immigration deputy commissioners Michael Robles and Al Argosino on the advice of Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II.
“I was told to do what is right,” he said and claimed he was an asset of the Justice department.
He made his statement even as Immigration placed four former high-ranking Immigration officials and an ex-policeman under its Lookout Bulletin after they were linked to the attempt to extort P50 from Chinese casino tycoon Jack Lam.
Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente ordered all Immigration officers in seaports and airports to stop former acting BI intelligence Chief Charles Calima Jr. and his assistant, Police Colonel Edward Chan, and dismissed Deputy Commissioners Al Argosino and Michael Robles and Sombero.
Senate President Pro Tempore Franklin Drilon called for a reorganization of Immigration in light of the corruption issues facing some of its officials.
He filed Senate Resolution 256 urging the Committee on Civil Service and Government Reorganization to look into the possible reorganization of the agency “in order to restore public confidence in our immigration controls.”
Senator Panfilo Lacson said there was no reason for him to believe the explanation of the two accused associate commissioners.
Sombero said he came forward to clear his name and to stop Argosino and Robles. He said the two even instructed him not to report the under-the-table deal with Aguirre.
He said Immigration’s intelligence chief Charles Calima helped him in the entrapment operation on Argosino and Robles during the payoff at the City of Dreams Casino Hotel in Parañaque City on Nov. 27.
He said he was able to document the extortion to back his allegation of extortion.
“They were caught accepting the money,” he said.
Sombero was accompanied by NBI agents to the Ombudsman.
He was the alleged middleman for Lam who was looking for a “godfather” to protect his illegal gambling operations.
