BI exec who got bribe money from Jack Lam left PH–De Lima

One of the two Bureau of Immigration (BI) officials who supposedly received bribe money from Macau-based online gaming tycoon Jack Lam has reportedly left the country with his family, Sen. Leila de Lima said on Tuesday, citing information from her own sources.

“’Yung isa sa kanila umalis na daw with his family … Nakalimutan ko yung sinabi ng source ko kung sino sa dalawa na ’yan na umalis na (One of them has allegedly left with his family … I forgot what my source said on who among the two left),” De Lima told reporters, adding that she had yet to confirm this report.

Earlier media reports identified the two in the P50-million bribery scandal as Deputy Commissioners Al Argosino and Michael Robles.

READ: 2 BI execs admit receiving P48M from Jack Lam

De Lima said the two would be invited to the Senate probe on the issue, along with Lam and Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, who himself admitted being offered a P100-million bribe by the businessman.

She also urged lawmakers to pursue Lam, who reportedly left the country on Nov. 29. She said the government should immediately order Lam’s arrest or his extradition to the Philippines.

READ: Jack Lam has left PH

“(Lam) could come back but he should be arrested immediately and in fact they should be initiating some actions now like extradition, if we have extradition treaty or any kind of legal treaty in a place where he is in now,” said the senator.

De Lima has filed a resolution directing the Senate committee on accountability of public officers and investigations or the blue ribbon committee chaired by Sen. Richard Gordon to look into the controversy.

But she said she would withdraw her measure and replace it with a “modified” one so the issue would be conducted alongside a resolution earlier filed by Senate President Pro Tempore Franklin Drilon.

De Lima said the scope of Drilon’s resolution was “wider” and “broader” as it sought a possible reorganization of the immigration bureau in light of the bribery scandal.

Drilon’s resolution, she said, would be tackled by the Senate committee on civil service, government reorganization and professional regulation, chaired by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV./rga