Missing P1,000 saves ex-BI officials from plunder rap

MANILA, Philippines — A missing P1,000 allowed former Bureau of Immigration (BI) officials, who figured in a P50-million bribery scandal earlier last year, to evade non-bailable plunder charges before the Office of the Ombudsman.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon raised the matter of the missing P1,000 during the plenary deliberations on the proposed budget of the Department of Justice (DOJ) at the Senate on Tuesday night. The BI is under the supervision and control of the DOJ.

Drilon asked Sen. Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate finance committee and sponsor of the DOJ budget, the status of the case against former BI commissioners Al Argosino and Michael Robles.

Legarda, who was being briefed by Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre on the floor, said the two were charged with graft after being accused of extorting P50 million from gambling operator Jack Lam.

The money was given allegedly to facilitate the release of Chinese workers in Lam’s gaming facility in Clark arrested by BI agents last November.

Drilon asked why graft charges were filed as the minimum amount required for a plunder charge is P50 million.

Legarda said the money from Lam, when counted by investigators, amounted only to P49,999,999, to which Drilon retorted: “I hope it’s not a joke.”

“It’s not a joke,” Legarda replied.

“This is no laughing matter. Obviously that’s a deliberate attempt to escape plunder charges before the courts,” Drilon said, noting that plunder is not bailable and is punishable with life imprisonment.

Graft is punishable by six to 15 years’ imprisonment.

Aguirre, through Legarda, stated the counting of the money was recorded and the bundles were shown to be missing P1,000.

She said P29,999,000 is with the DOJ, P2 million is with the Ombudsman, and P18 million is with the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the Philippine National Police.

In a statement yesterday, Drilon called on the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate the obstruction of justice and the manipulation of evidence in the case against Argosino and Robles.

He said the DOJ cannot be trusted to look into the case because of the alleged involvement of some of its officials.

Drilon likewise called on the Office of the President to conduct an independent investigation on the obvious obstruction of justice in the case.