Alleged bribery liaison back, to face Senate
RETIRED police superintendent Wenceslao “Wally” Sombero, Jr., the alleged middleman of gaming tycoon Jack Lam, returned to the country yesterday, amid pressure to face the Senate inquiry on the Bureau of Immigration (BI) bribery scandal.
“Mr. Sombero sighted at exactly 9:00 a.m. inside the aircraft pr119 at gate 49, as per [ Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2] head,” Justice Undersecretary Erickson H. Balmes said in a message to reporters.
Before he arrived, the Department of Justice ( DoJ) gave marching orders to the Bureau of Immigration and the National Bureau of Investigation ( NBI) on the handling of Mr. Sombero, who last week claimed he was stranded in Canada after falling ill at Vancouver airport just before boarding his flight to Manila.
The memorandum issued by Justice Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre II told the BI and NBI to ensure fool-proof security preparations for Mr. Sombero because he is deemed by senators a vital witness into their investigation of the P50-million bribery scandal involving Mr. Lam.
Two dismissed BI associate commissioners, Al Argosino and Michael Robles, earlier told the Senate blue- ribbon committee that Mr. Lam through Mr. Sombero gave them P50 million as bribe in late November 2016 right after the Immigration’s raid on Mr. Lam’s Fontana gaming operations in Clark Field, Pampanga, where BI arrested 1,316 Chinese nationals with no work permits.
Mr. Sombero, however, had countered with a lawsuit alleging that Argosino and Robles extorted money from Lam in exchange for the release of the Chinese workers.
Apart from the alleged bribery, there are also questions about how Mr. Sombero was able to leave the Philippines despite an immigration lookout bulletin order (ILBO) issued on Dec. 16 last year.
The said ILBO listed his name only as “Wally Sombero.” He left the Philippines on Jan. 17 and was in Singapore on Jan. 23 as the Senate held its first hearing on the Bureau of Immigration (BI) bribery scandal.
To note, an ILBO orders immigration officers to alert the Office of the Justice Secretary or the Office of the Prosecutor General should a subject attempt to leave the country.
The ILBO does not prescribe that the subject needs an Allow Departure Order (ADO) before leaving the country. But Mr. Aguirre said Mr. Sombero should have been stopped by immigration officers: “Pero (But) in this case, kay (with) Sombero, wala siyang ADO kaya dapat pinigilan siya ng Immigration Officer (he does not have an ADO, so he should have been barred from leaving by immigration officer[s]).”
“Hindi na iyan kasalanan ng Secretary of Justice (That’s not the fault of the Secretary of Justice),” Mr. Aguirre added.
The ILBO only identified Mr. Sombero as “Wally Sombero.” Senator Richard J. Gordon, blueribbon committee chairman, criticized the BI in a hearing last week for allowing Mr. Sombero to leave the country.
Mr. Sombero had been recognized at the airport by a desk-level immigration employee despite his different name on the lookout order. She called her supervisor, who let Mr. Sombero go, after a computerized scanning of his passport showed no hits.
Sought for comment, Justice Undersecretary Erickson H. Balmes said in a message that the DoJ rectified the earlier released ILBO. “Amended na po (already) to reflect his true name,” said Mr. Balmes, who also sent a photo of a memorandum dated Jan. 24, 2017 seeking to amend the name of Mr. Sombero to reflect Wenceslao Alarcon Sombero, Jr.
The memorandum, however, was issued seven days after Mr. Sombero flew to Singapore on Jan. 17.
Meanwhile, the DoJ on Tuesday, in an “extremely urgent” memorandum, also ordered the NBI to provide security assistance to Mr. Sombero, if needed.
The NBI is also tasked to help in properly securing Mr. Sombero when he is handed over to the blue-ribbon committee.
The Senate is scheduled to hold a fourth day of inquiry on Thursday, Feb. 16. —
with a report by interaksyon.com