BUSINESSMAN Charlie “Atong” Ang, a business partner of gaming mogul Jack Lam, on Thursday said a total of P60 million, and not P50 million, had been paid for the release of over 1,000 undocumented Chinese workers at Fontana Leisure Park and Casino in Pampanga.
Testifying for the first time in the resumption of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee hearing on the P50 million bribery at the Bureau of Immigration, Ang revealed that former BI associate commissioners Al Argosino and Michael Robles demanded P100 million but P60 million had been released through former police official Wenceslao Sombero Jr.
He told the committee chaired by Senator Richard Gordon that P60 million was already released to former police general Wenceslao “Wally” Sombero, but still no release was made.
Ang said the two former immigration officials told him the initial P50 million was not enough to bail out the Chinese workers, so they asked for another P50 million.
The former police officer handed the P50 million to Argosino and Robles during a meeting at a restaurant of the City of Dreams in Parañaque City on Nov. 27, 2016.
Alex Yu, a representative of Nam, told the hearing he gave Sombero the additional P10 million.
Sombero admitted receiving the money at 11 p.m. of Nov. 26 or before he met with Argosino and Robles. He said he would give it to the former immigration officials as part of the P50-million balance.
But Sombero said he changed his mind and later told Yu to first hold the P10 million since the Chinese workers have not yet been released.
Sombero said he was told by Yu to keep the money as they can use it for legal fees to get Lam’s workers released.
When Senator Francis Escudero asked if the money was with him, Sombero answered it’s still intact. He noted he did not intentionally keep the P10 million.
Ang also divulged that the arrested Chinese workers were being asked to pay up to P3 million just to get back their passports.
He also sought the help of the senators and Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre for the workers of Next Games Outsourcing Inc. who he said were being told to pay from P150,000 to P3 million to repossess their passports.
“They confiscated so many passports; there were 600 which they want to be redeemed…The corruption is taking place in the lower level of the bureau. That’s the problem. We are asking for your help,” Ang said.
Before Senator Richard Gordon wrapped up the hearing, which lasted for almost nine hours, he raised the possibility of Lam coming to the Philippines.
But Raymund Fortun, a lawyer of Lam, said the gaming tycoon has no plan of coming back to the Philippines.
Sombero said the P50 million he handed to Argosino and Robles was a payoff, and said he did not consider it extortion or bribery.
During the meeting, Sombero allegedly handed the money to Argosino and Robles supposedly in exchange for the release of Lam’s undocumented casino workers.
When Sombero would not say who gave him the money, Gordon asked him to stop giving them the run-around.
Exasperated, Gordon blurted out: “You’re being technical. Just tell the truth!”
Based on his opinion, he said, the money involved was a “business decision” on the part of the group of Lam. He believed the money did not come from Lam but from online gaming service providers, who were renting space at Lam’s Fontana.
Some 3,300 undocumented Chinese working in his casino were arrested by operatives from the Bureau of Immigration-Fugitive Search Unit and the PNP- Special Action Force in November 2016.