Department of Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II. EDWIN BACASMAS
“I know myself, I could not be bribed.”
This was how Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II defended himself from Senator Antonio Trillanes IV’s accusation that he was involved in the P50 million bribery controversy hounding the Bureau of Immigration (BI).
Returning to the Senate blue ribbon committee on Tuesday, Aguirre answered point by point all questions raised against him by Trillanes during the last hearing on January 23.
First, Aguirre explained that he agreed to meet with gambling mogul Jack Lam at Shangri-La hotel in Taguig at 5:00 p.m. last November 26 because he was attending an awarding ceremony at the same venue, “and not for any malicious reasons.”
READ: Trillanes sees Aguirre involvement in bribery scandal
During last week’s hearing, the justice secretary admitted meeting with Lam and his two interpreters, former BI Associate Commissioner Al Argosino and retired Police Senior Superintendent Wally Sombero Jr., to discuss the arrest of Chinese workers at the businessman’s Fontana Leisure Parks and Casino in Clark, Pampanga.
As to the senator’s question about Argosino’s presence in the meeting, Aguirre said it was the former official who requested to join them and he simply agreed to it.
But Trillanes earlier questioned why before leaving the meeting, Aguirre would tell Argosino: “Ikaw na bahala (It’s up to you).”
After the Shangri-La meeting, Argosino, along with former BI Associate Commissioner Michael Robles, met again with Sombero at the City of Dreams in the evening of November 26 until past 5:00 a.m. the following day.
READ: Aguirre’s testimony full of holes, says Trillanes
But Aguirre said the phrase “ikaw na bahala” was “understood and appreciated by Trillanes with malice.”
“In fact, I could not remember uttering to Argosino those words,” the justice secretary said.
“And even if it’s true, perhaps I uttered it casually as I was in a hurry to attend a meeting in the same hotel and for no other reasons. I may have uttered it as I was in a hurry. It was not an instruction to do illegal things.” he said.
As “overseer” of all agencies under the Department of Justice, Aguirre said he has the prerogative to give direction “respecting my function” but said the statement might have been uttered in relation to the inconvenience or plight of the illegal aliens in Fontana.
“Why did I meet in that hotel? I know myself. I could not be bribed. I believe in my integrity so I have nothing to fear that I will be corrupted,” he said.
Aguirre said he was also “completely ignorant” of the P100 million that Argosino, his frat brother, had allegedly demanded from Sombero or Lam.
And as to Trillanes’ question regarding his December 1 radio interview where he mentioned that the bribe offer was P50 million to P100 million even though no one else had mentioned it, the justice secretary said the amount was just his own estimate.
He reiterated that his alleged involvement in the bribe scandal was only in “the fertile imagination” of Trillanes, who he said was “seeing ghosts when there are none.” JE/rga