President Duterte named Michael B. Robles and Al C. Argosino associate commissioners at the Bureau of Immigration (BI) in August, completing the board headed by Commissioner Jaime Morento.
Robles was a city prosecutor in Pasig City for nine years (2007-2016) before his appointment. As a prosecutor, he received numerous recognition, such as the “second-highest percentage of resolved cases” in 2012.
He first worked as a legal researcher in a law firm before he entered government service as court of attorney at the Court of Appeals in 2001. A year later, he worked as clerk of court at a Regional Trial Court, staying in that post for four years.
He graduated with an economics degree at San Beda College in 1996 and finished his law degree at San Sebastian College’s Institute of Law in 2000.
Argosino had been a private litigation lawyer in his law firm, KBMA Law offices (Kho, Bustos, Malcontento and Argosino) before becoming an associate commissioner. He was one of the partners at KBMA, which was founded in 1999, handling labor and immigration cases.
He started his career as a legal officer of Sen. John Osmeña and as head executive assistant of Sen. Orlando Mercado.
He obtained his business management degree in 1988 and his law degree in 1993 at San Beda College, where he was a scholar and a recipient of the Gerry Roxas Leadership Award. —COMPILED BY KATHLEEN DE VILLA, INQUIRER RESEARCH
Sources: CV of Michael Robles and Al Argosino, Inquirer Archives