Drilon irked as ‘bribe’ money recovered from ex-BI execs ‘1k less than a plunder case’

It appears that there was a “deliberate attempt” on the part of former Immigration commissioners Al Argosino and Michael Robles to escape non-bailable plunder charges, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said Tuesday, after it was disclosed during the budget deliberations that the bribe money recovered from the two are P1,000 short of a plunder case.

During the Senate deliberations on the proposed P17.43-billion budget of the Department of Justice (DOJ) for 2018, Drilon asked why plunder was not filed against Argosino and Robles.

The Bureau of Immigration (BI), which is under the DOJ,  has a proposed budget of P943 million.

“Why was it not plunder?” Drilon asked Senator Loren Legarda, chairperson of the Senate finance committee and sponsor of the 2018 budget.

Legarda then asked Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre. The senator was heard saying: “Are you kidding? Amazing.” She then answered Drilon, saying the amount of money recovered from Argosino and Robles was P49,999,000.

“It’s not a joke. ‘Yun ang sabi ni Secretary. They know the plunder law. It’s P49,999,000,” Legarda said, to which Drilon replied: “Obviously, there is a deliberate attempt to escape the charges in case they got caught.”

Legarda said the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) filed graft and direct bribery charges against Argosino and Robles with the Office of the Ombudsman.

The BI controversy was a subject of a Senate investigation early this year. Both Argosino and Robles were accused of receiving a P50-million bribe money from retired police officer Wally Sombero, the supposed middleman of gambling tycoon Jack Lam.

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

Sombero, for his part, had said that the BI controversy was a case of “extortion.”

Citing Aguirre, Legarda said the amount was split to P18 million with the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), P2 million with the Ombudsman, and the rest with the DOJ.

A bank, according to Aguirre, counted the money. “Kulang ng P1,000,” Legarda said, still quoting Aguirre.

The threshold amount for plunder is P50 million.

“Both of us are amused but this is no laughing matter. This is a deliberate attempt to escape plunder charges because plunder is not bailable,” Drilon told Legarda.

“This is P1,000 less than a plunder case…Ito kaya kinain ng daga ang isang libo para hindi maging plunder?” Drilon said. “Siguro po, dagang dalawa ang paa,” Legarda replied.

Argosino, Robles, and Aguirre are fraternity brothers with  President Rodrigo Duterte at the San Beda-based Lex Talionis Fraternity. — RSJ/JST, GMA News