“Yes, I am stupid but not corrupt.”
This was the statement of dismissed Immigration Associate Commissioner Mike Robles when we met at a Quezon City restaurant Thursday night.
Robles asked for the meeting with me and Ted Contacto, lawyer for Wally Sombero in the Senate committee hearing on the P50-million bribery scandal involving Robles and his fellow associate commissioner, Al Argosino, who was also dismissed.
Robles, a Pasig City prosecutor before he was appointed to the Bureau of Immigration, was tearfully reacting to what Sen. Leila de Lima told him at the committee hearing: “You are either too stupid or too corrupt.”
During the hearing of the justice and human rights committee chaired by Sen. Dick Gordon, Robles said he was clueless about the reason for the meeting with Sombero at City of Dreams in the early morning of Nov. 27.
Money in three paper bags changed hands after Sombero’s meeting with Argosino and Robles, which was caught on the hotel casino’s security cameras.
Sombero said the two associate commissioners demanded money from him for the release of more than 1,000 Chinese workers of the illegal online gaming casino operated by Jack Lam.
Robles said he just accompanied Argosino, a “brod” in Lex Talionis, a San Beda College of Law fraternity which counts President Digong and Justice Secretary Vit Aguirre as members.
Robles, whom Gordon scolded at the hearing for lying to his committee, said he presumed that the money handed to Argosino was for payment to his senior fraternity brod who was a practicing lawyer before he was appointed to the immigration bureau.
“I swear I didn’t know the money was for a deal about immigration,” Robles told me and Contacto.
Contacto had told Robles to “come clean” by revealing everything in the next hearing set for Feb. 9.
Robles said he was too nervous during the Jan. 31 hearing—which I attended as a resource person—to talk back to Gordon, De Lima and Senators Chiz Escudero, Joel Villanueva and Manny Pacquiao who took turns berating him and Argosino.
At the Senate hearing, Argosino, who was dismissed along with Robles, became emotional.
“Yes, I am stupid but not corrupt,” Robles said when asked what he thought about De Lima’s insulting remark.
Despite President Digong’s strong warning to all government personnel against engaging in corrupt practices, some people at the Bureau of Customs seem too dumb to heed the warning.
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At the Cebu port, a shipment consisting of infant and adult diapers and wet tissues for babies was held for “misdeclaration.”
The importer, who is my friend, said the contents of the shipment were honestly declared.
“Mon, I’m an honest man, I declare the real contents of all my shipments which are diapers and wet tissues, but some customs people apparently want to make a fast buck,” said my friend, who also owns a five-star hotel.
At Manila South Harbor, his shipment consisting of the same items were released without a hitch, he said.
“So why are they always holding my shipment at the Cebu port when it doesn’t contain contraband?” my friend said.