Sandiganbayan denies bail bid of Argosino, Robles, Sombero

The Sandiganbayan Sixth Division has denied the petition of former Bureau of Immigration (BI) Deputy Commissioner Al Argosino and Michael Robles, as well as Asian Gaming Service Providers Association, Inc. (AGSPA) president Wenceslao Sombero Jr. to post bail for their plunder charge.

The three of them are facing plunder charges over the reported extortion of 150 million from 1,316 arrested Chinese nationals allegedly found violating Philippine immigration laws back in 2016.

They were charged with violation of RA 7080 or the act defining and penalizing plunder, as well as Section 3(e) of RA 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, Article 210 of the Revised Penal Code or Bribery, and P.D. 46, which prohibits the giving gifts to public employees.

Because plunder is a non-bailable offense, the three of them are detained at the Quezon City Jail Annex of Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.

In their petitions, Argosino, Robles and Sombero prayed that they be allowed to post bail for their temporary liberty for several reasons.

Argosino said that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), which conducted the investigation, did not even file a complaint for plunder against him. He added that the money involved is 11,000 short of the amount required for plunder.

The fact that he turned over the money to the Department of Justice (DOJ) also showed his "lack of pecuniary interest to consider amassing, accumulating or acquiring the same."

For his part, Robles said that the two tranches of receiving money within a span of more than two hours constitute only one overt or criminal act, and there is no evidence that he accumulated ill-gotten wealth. Like Argosino, he stressed that the actual money falls below the threshold required for plunder.

On the other hand, Sombero argued that the evidence of his guilt is not strong and he is not a flight risk. As an asset or informant of Gen. Charles Calima, then acting chief of the Intelligence Division of the Bureau of Immigration, Sombero said he could not be faulted for conspiring with Argosino.

Unfortunately for the three of them, the Sandiganbayan found that the prosecution sufficiently proved that the evidence against them is strong.

"Although accused Argosino and Robles do not make any express averment in their respective petitions that they received the money, their admission of turning over the money to the concerned government agency implies that the money was in their possession at some point," the court ruled.

"They could not have turned over the money if it never came into their possession in the first place," the court added.

The accused even reasoned that they took the money as evidence against Lam, but the prosecution's evidence told a different story. They presented BI Commissioner Jaime Morente, who claimed that he had no knowledge of Argosino and Robles' alleged plan to entrap Lam in an operation.

"It is reasonable to expect that Comm. Morente, the head of agency, would have known, or at the very least, would have been informed about it, especially considering the substantial amount of money involved," the court said.

If the plan had indeed been set up, Morente would not have ordered Calima to conduct counter-intelligence operations against Argosino and Robles.

"The prosecution's evidence, taken as a whole, convincingly shows that there was no legitimate reason why accused Argosino and Robles received money from accused Sombero outside the premise of their office and beyond office hours, and hence, the money received appears to be ill-gotten wealth," the resolution read.

As for the money falling short of the P50 million required for plunder, the Sandiganbayan highlighted the video clip showing Argosino's press conference held on December 13, 2016.

Back then, Argosino "unequivocally stated" that he and Robles received 150 million from Sombero. They gave 12 million to Sombero as "balato" or share of money, while 118 million was in the possession of Calima.