De Lima calls for Senate probe on Immigration extortion scandal

Senator Leila de Lima on Monday called for a Senate investigation on the extortion scandal involving two sacked Bureau of Immigration (BI) officials.

De Lima filed Senate Resolution No. 258 urging the Senate blue ribbon committee to conduct a legislative inquiry on the extortion scandal involving former BI commissioners Al Argosino and Michael Robles.

“Simply put, there are too many nagging questions that necessitate a deeper independent probe by the Senate," De Lima said.

"We cannot just entrust such investigation to DOJ/NBI which are both under Aguirre’s control. It’s like entrusting a wolf to guard the sheep,” De Lima said, referring to Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II.

Argosino and Robles were accused of extorting P50 million from gambling tycoon Jack Lam in exchange for the release of hundreds of illegal Chinese workers in Clark, Pampanga.

The BI officials were reported to have received five paper bags allegedly containing P10 million each, or a total of P50 million, from Lam’s middleman, former police officer Wally Sombero, at a hotel in Parañaque City.

De Lima noted that the two BI officials belong to President Rodrigo Duterte’s fraternity, the San Beda-based Lex Talionis Fraternity.

“The kid’s glove treatment of the President and his other fraternity brothers for their suspicious handling of the Jack Lam bribery scandal raises issues on the seriousness and/or capability of the government to enforce its anti-corruption laws in situations where those involved are personal friends of the appointing authority,” De Lima said.

De Lima also pointed out that Aguirre himself admitted that he was offered the amount of P100 million a month by Lam.

“If indeed Lam, through his middleman Wally Sombero, attempted to bribe Aguirre, why didn’t the latter effect right then and there, a warrantless arrest of Sombero, the latter being in flagrante delicto, and thereafter promptly move to prevent Lam’s departure or escape from the country?” she said.

“This failure in law enforcement and immediate prosecution of Jack Lam and his cohorts has led the public to speculate on the real story behind this incident,” De Lima added. —KBK, GMA News