DOJ Secretary Aguirre revealed that the bribe offer for the release of 1,316 Chinese illegally working at a casino was up to P200 thousand.
Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II of the Department of Justice (DOJ) confirmed that bribes were offered in exchange of the liberty of 1,316 Chinese nationals who were nabbed last week for working illegally at a casino at Clark Freeport in the province of Pampanga.
The Chinese were employed at Fontana Leisure Park and Casino, which is operated by gambling tycoon Jack Lam who is based in Macau.
The arrest on November 24 was led and personally handled by DOJ Secretary Aguirre.
Aguirre said in a statement that he had been informed about the efforts to offer as high as P200,000 in exchange of the liberty of each of those arrested but the Cabinet member maintained, “we will not be deterred. We will be uncompromising in our fight against crime and corruption”.
The Secretary of Justice maintained that he would not allow casino operators offering the bribe to undermine a major blow against businessmen who use illegal aliens for their operations.
More arrests, said Secretary Aguirre, are expected against illegal workers after the court issued a search warrant to break open locked facilities in the casino’s building at Clark Freeport where other Chinese nationals were kept from policemen who conducted the raid.
Aguirre said that the arrest of the Chinese workers is a message to all who are breaking Philippine laws that the government will go after them and hold them liable.
The revelation of the DOJ came as the Bureau of Immigration (BI) was preparing for the deportation proceedings against the Chinese who were discovered to violating the immigration laws, to include overstaying in the Philippines and violating the conditions of their visas.
Aside from their immigration offenses, Aguirre said that the illegal aliens are also to face raps for “engaging in an unlicensed online gaming business”, Bureau of Immigration spokesman Tonette Mangrobang said.