THE Senate on Tuesday presented an alleged footage of two former Bureau of immigration officials receiving a P50-million bribe as one of them broke into tears for being publicly accused of corruption.
During the resumption of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee hearing on the scandal, the Senate Blue Ribbon committee led by Senator Richard Gordon played th video showing former Immigration Associate Commissioners Al Argosino and Michael Robles receiving the bribe from an aide of gambling tycoon Jack Lam at a casino mall in Parañaque City on Nov. 27 last year.
The National Bureau of Investigation had earlier filed charges before the Office of the Ombudsman against Argosino and Robles over the case.
“We have filed a case of direct bribery under Article 200, 2010 of the Revised Penal Code,” National Bureau of Investigation Dante Gierran told the Senate hearing.
“We have also filed cases of violation of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and another case for violation of Presidential Decree 46.”
Gierran made his statement even as Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Tuesday again denied the allegations of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV linking him to the bribery scandal.
Argosino and Robles admitted before the Senate panel they were the ones on the video with Lam’s representative, retired Police Senior Superintendent Wally Sombero Jr.
Robles also confirmed that one of the three men carrying two paper bags, each loaded with P10 million in cash, was his seaman-brother who merely accompanied him to the City of Dreams in Pasay City.
But Robles said he and Argosino did not know the name of the third man aside from Sombero, who was also carrying another paper bag with P10 million in cash.
Despite receiving millions of pesos from Sombero, the two immigration officials denied they brought the money home for their own gain.
As Gordon and Senators Francis Escudero and Leila De Lima took turns grilling Argosino and Robles, the two denied that the money was a bribe to protect Lam who was involved in illegal gambling.
Lam was also found to have employed Chinese nationals who had been working at the Fontana Leisure Parks and Casino in Clark, Pampanga, without work permits.
In his sworn statement he read before the committee, Robles narrated their meeting with Sombero starting from the time he arrived in a restaurant of City of Dreams around 9:15 p.m. of Nov. 26 where he first met with Argosino.
Robles said he and Argosino transferred to Erwin’s Gastro Restaurant, still inside the City of Dreams, while waiting for Sombero who arrived at 2 a.m. carrying two bags.
But because the Gastro restaurant was closing, Robles said they transferred to Ginger Restaurant around 3:20 a.m.
“After transferring to Ginger Restaurant, Mr. Sombero decided to leave the place and asked us to wait for him while leaving two paper bags near the table,” he said.
Robles said it was Argosino who told him that the bags contained money. He said he was surprised and asked him if he asked for the money and what was the purpose of the money.
“Attorney Argosino told me that he did not know the purpose of the money and that he did not ask for it,” he said.
Robles said Argosino also told him that he was conducting an investigation on Lam for violation of immigration laws and human trafficking, and that he would use the money as evidence against the businessman.
At 5:45 a,m., Robles said, Sombero returned to the restaurant, and when they were about to leave the place Sombero and his assistant, who was carrying the bags, followed them.
Upon Argosino’s request, Robles said, they met with Sombero again on Nov. 28 at the Diamond Hotel in Manila, and on Nov. 30 at the Crown Hotel.
Robles said he was surprised when former Immigration Intelligence chief Charles Calima later told him that the latter was in close coordination with Sombero and that they had “evidence” of what had transpired in the City of Dreams.
“It strengthened my suspicion that we were framed up because an acting Intel Chief of BI, instead of warning us about Mr. Sombero, had connived with the latter in plotting a frame up operation on us despite the fact that we have no history of wrongdoing and that there was no complaint against us by anyone,” he said.