Drilon urges Duterte’s office to probe ‘obvious obstruction of justice’ in BI bribery scandal

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Wednesday called on the Office of the President (OP) to conduct an “independent” investigation on the “obvious obstruction of justice” in the P50-million bribery scandal involving two former deputy commissioners of the Bureau of Immigration (BI).

Drilon had earlier questioned why former deputy commissioners Al Argosino and Michael Robles were not slapped with non-bailable plunder charges over the bribe money they allegedly received from gambling tycoon Jack Lam.

During deliberations on the Department of Justice (DOJ) budget Tuesday night, it was diclosed that the money recovered only amounted to P49,999,000.

The amount was P1,000 short of a possible plunder case. The threshold amount for plunder is P50 million.

“Obviously there is obstruction of justice dahil sa P50 million ay binawasan ng P1,000 para hindi pumasok sa plunder,” Drilon said in an interview. 

“I call for an investigation because this is obstruction of justice para whoever is responsible should be punished. I condemn in the strongest possible term this mockery of justice that we are seeing,” he added.

Drilon said the DOJ was not the proper agency to conduct the probe, since the BI is under the said department.

“I call on the Office of the President to constitute an independent probe or the Ombudsman to conduct an independent probe as to this very obvious amateur way of obstructing justice,” Drilon said.

Argosino, Robles, and Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II are fraternity brothers with President Rodrigo Duterte at the San Beda-based Lex Talionis Fraternity.

The amount of P50 million was supposedly given in exchange for the release of the 1,316 illegal Chinese workers who were arrested during a raid at Lam’s casino in Pampanga.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has filed graft and direct bribery charges against Argosino and Robles with the Office of the Ombudsman. — MDM, GMA News