Pacquiao admits to being friends with Wally Sombero

MANILA, Philippines (Philippines News Agency) — Boxer-senator Manny Pacquiao used to play poker with retired police Senior Superintendent Wally Sombero, now known as the alleged middleman of Macau-based gambling tycoon Jack Lam.

Pacquiao on Tuesday confirmed to reporters that he is indeed a longtime friend of Sombero, after the latter claimed so upon his arrival in Manila from Vancouver the same day.

"I met him (Sombero) a long time ago. We became friends. We were in the same barkada (circle of friends). We would play poker when I was still gambling. That was a long time ago -- eight or nine years ago," Pacquiao said.

Pacquiao, a boxing champion, has long quit gambling before entering politics.

He also admitted that Sombero would contact him while he was abroad to tell him that he feared for his return to Manila.

"We contacted each other. He texted me. He's asking help to be brought back here without being harmed, that nothing would happen to him. I told him, 'come home, nobody will harm you here'," he added.

The neophyte senator, meanwhile, said Sombero promised to tell the truth when he faces the Senate blue ribbon committee as it investigates the P50-million bribery scandal involving Immigration officials on February 16.

The boxer-senator has never publicly mentioned being friends with Sombero during Senate hearings. He claimed, however, that he mentioned it to panel chair Sen. Richard Gordon.

Aside from being friends with Sombero, Pacquiao also disclosed that he met Lam himself in a golf tournament in Pampanga.

He cannot recall if the golf course he was invited to was the controversial Fontana Leisure Parks and Casino in Clark, Pampanga owned by Lam which employed over 1,000 illegal Chinese workers.

According to former Immigration associate commissioners and lawyers Al Argosino and Michael Robles, Sombero gave them paper bags with millions of pesos in exchange for the release of over 1,000 illegal Chinese workers arrested in Fontana.

Sombero was invited to the Senate hearing over the scandal but failed to make it citing health problems.

The retired cop, who was earlier issued an immigration lookout bulletin order, claimed he was advised to see a cardiologist. — PNA