Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II (right) and Undersecretary Erickson Balmes face the Senate on Monday. —EDWIN BACASMAS
Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV on Monday accused Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II of being part of a shakedown operation against Chinese casino tycoon Jack Lam whose workers were arrested by the Bureau of Immigration (BI) last November.
The BI is under the Department of Justice.
At the first Senate hearing on the controversy, Trillanes asked why Wally Sombero, a Lam representative who gave P50 million to then BI Associate Commissioners Al Argosino and Michael Robles last November, was dealing with the two officials when they did not have the authority to release the 1,316 Chinese workers.
The workers were arrested last Nov. 24 for working illegally in the online gaming business of Lam at Clark Freeport in Pampanga province.
“The ones with the power to do so is BI chief (Jaime) Morente and Secretary Aguirre,” the senator said while he was questioning former BI intelligence chief Charles Calima Jr., who investigated Argosino and Robles for extorting money from Lam. Calima was later sacked by Aguirre.
Trillanes also wondered why Aguirre mentioned the amount of the bribe in a media interview as early as Dec. 1, when no BI officials had told him about it.
“So, this means all this time he knows about this transaction and maybe he went out to the media because (the extortion) has been exposed,” Trillanes said of Aguirre in reference to the press conference the latter held last Nov. 27, announcing the bribery attempt.
Aguirre had left the Senate hearing when Trillanes’ turn to question the resource persons came.
Responding late on Monday, Aguirre challenged Trillanes to prove his accusation.
“It’s easy to accuse. Especially for a ‘sundalong kanin’ whose credibility is zero,” Aguirre said.
He explained that a ‘sundalong kanin’ is a soldier who has never experienced combat because he hides in an office to avoid being sent to the front.
To reporters later, Trillanes said the hearing showed there were “many questions on the possible involvement” of Aguirre in the bribery scandal. —WITH A REPORT FROM GIL CABACUNGAN