Sombero: BI scandal put online gaming industry in PHL on ‘brink of extinction’

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) P50-million bribery scandal put the online gaming industry in the Philippines on the “brink of extinction,” former police officer Wally Sombero said Thursday. 

Sombero appeared before the Senate Blue Ribbon committee to testify on the alleged bribery scandal involving BI deputy commissioners Al Argosino and Michael Robles. 

In his opening statement, Sombero said he was “trying to leave a legacy” for the Philippines with regards to the online gaming industry until he was tagged in the BI controversy. 

“Unfortunately, my painstaking efforts to save the industry engulfed me in a controversy that has likewise pushed the online gaming service industry in the brink of extinction,” Sombero said. 

Sombero is the alleged middleman of Chinese gambling tycoon Jack Lam, who supposedly bribed Argosino and Robles in exchange for the release of illegal Chinese workers arrested in Clark, Pampanga. 

Sombero said he has consistently and humbly offered his services to the government to implement guidelines for the full regulation of the gaming industry, both land-based and online. 

“Believe it or not, I truly wanted to help President Duterte’s administration in as much as I was totally convinced that the Filipino people has finally elected a president who is sincerely committed to reform and have the political will to execute the necessary actions,” Sombero said. 

Sombero said he served as a member of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) for 27 years until 2000. 

He said he was also involved in investigative research, the focus of which was the underground gambling industry. 

In 2001, he said he developed an extensive network of contacts when he moved to the US and different parts of Asia. 

He said he enticed industry icons in the gaming industry to come and invest in the Philippines, particularly in the Bagong Nayong Pilipino Entertainment City of Manila known as PAGCOR City. 

In 2005, Sombero said he served as a consultant of Philweb. 

He said he, along with a top gaming law firm, founded and organized a non-government organization, the Asian Gaming Service Provider Association, Inc. or AGSPA, which “policed their own ranks” in the online gaming industry. —KG, GMA News