PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has appointed to the Bureau of Immigration (BI) a former Antique board member to replace the commissioner who had been tagged in the P50-million bribery mess involving gaming tycoon Jack Lam.
Duterte has chosen Tobias Javier to fill in the position of former Commissioner Al Argosino who had been fired last December along with other Commissioner Michael Robles.
Javier, the chairman of PDP-Laban in Western Visayas, served as the member of the Antique Provincial Board from 2007 to 2016.
Justice Undersecretary Erickson Balmes said Javier took his oath of office before Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Tuesday.
He said no one has been appointed yet to replace Robles.
Argosino and Robles, alleged of extorting P50 million from Lam in exchange for the release of half of the P1,316 Chinese nationals arrested at his casino in Clark, Pampanga, are now facing plunder charges with the Ombudsman. (SunStar Philippines)