Immigration officials deny extorting P50M from Jack Lam 

Two embattled officials of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) denied on Tuesday extorting  P50 million from Jack Lam, the businessman accused of running illegal gambling operations in Clark, Pampanga.

Immigration Deputy Commissioners Al Argosino and Michael Robles told reporters they were only doing an investigation on Lam's corrupt activities.

"The truth of the matter is that this case is a continuing investigation about employment of illegal aliens and illegal gambling operation, as well as on how their existence during the past administration would thrive through illegal payoffs," the officials said in a statement. 

Lam runs the Fontana Leisure Parks and Casino in Clark, Pampanga, where 1,316 Chinese nationals were caught engaged in illegal online gambling operations by BI operatives on November 24.

Nearly three weeks after the raid, newspaper columnist Ramon Tulfo alleged over the weekend that two Immigration associate commissioners demanded P50 million in exchange for the release of 600 out of 1,316 undocumented Chinese workers.

The amounts were allegedly given in two tranches on November 27, a day after Argosino and Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II met with Lam and retired police official Wally Sombero at a hotel in Bonifacio Global City.

It was allegedly during the meeting that Sombero asked Aguirre to protect Lam's gambling business which the Cabinet official perceived as a bribery attempt.

During the press conference, Argosino said after that meeting he was approached by Sombero who reiterated that Lam needed a "sponsor" who could help the businessman secure a license for online gaming operations from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR). 

Robles and Argosino then agreed to meet with Sombero at the City of Dreams in Parañaque City where the alleged payoff took place. 

Argosino, however, said they only received P48 million with Sombero taking P2 million. 

Sombero reportedly told the BI officials that the money came from gaming operators and not from Lam, forcing them to decide that the money was not enough evidence to link Lam to the illegal gambling operations found to be employing undocumented Chinese nationals.

Argosino said they decided to take into custody the money and remain it intact for safekeeping to be used as evidence against Lam.

"Why did we not pursue it and consider it [the money] as future evidence because at the time that Wally Sombero met us in the City of Dreams, there are no signs of Jack Lam. We will arrest Wally Sombero but there was no Jack Lam,” Argosino said.

He added their investigation was an "opportunity to see the extent of corruption" at the bureau.

The BI officials also tagged acting Immigration intelligence chief Charles Calima Jr., who allegedly connived with Sombero for the release of Chinese nationals, dismissal of deportation cases and to safeguard Lam's interest.

Argosino and Robles, who have gone on a one-month leave, turned over to Aguirre the P30 million cash on Tuesday afternoon.

Argosino and Robles, meanwhile, filed complaints for corruption of public officials and violation of anti-wiretapping law against Lam, Sombero, Calima and Lam's two Chinese interpreters before the Parañaque City Prosecutor's Office.

In their complaint affidavit, the two BI officials alleged that Calima took P18 million from the P48 million supposedly to be shared to Sombero, Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente, a certain Col. Ed Chan and Tulfo.

The BI officials said they gave Calima P18 million after the latter told them that he knew what happened in the City of Dreams and that Sombero has “surreptitiously, secretly and maliciously” recorded his conversation with Argosino and Robles.

“It cannot be gainsaid that respondent Calima acted in conspiracy with his co-respondent Sombero being fully cognizant about the incident that transpired in the City of Dreams and has in fact been constantly monitoring the whole incident from its inception all the way to its end,” the complaint stated.

The complaint said Argosino and Robles went to the office of Morente on December 8 to tell him as to why Calima appeared to be well-connected to Sombero.

Morente then summoned Calima, who said he only wanted to help because he allegedly knew what Sombero was doing.

“In front of Commissioner Morente, he opened his laptop and made Argosino, Robles and Commissioner Morente listened to the alleged wiretapped conversation that transpired in the City of Dreams. He also called up Sombero and Tulfo, put them on speaker phone, in order for the three to listen. However, Argosino and Robles pretended they were weary. Truth be told, Argosino and Robles knew that it was only a matter of time that Calima would be caught,” the complaint read.

"Calima stressed that he got the recordings from Sombero whom he said to be his close friend. Calma and Sombero both were seasoned intelligence officers of the government for a long period of time," it added.

On the same day, Calima requested for a meeting with Argosino at a mall in Greenhills, San Juan City.

"It was during this meeting that Calima offered to help and requested for a share from the P48 million. Before the meeting ended at around 11:30 p.m., the amount that Calima was demanding reached to a staggering P18 million," the complaint said.

Separate probes by the National Bureau of Investigation and Morente have already been launched to look into the extortion claims. — RSJ/ALG/VVP, GMA News