MANILA – A Senate hearing on an alleged bribe attempt by a Chinese gambling tycoon is being used to discredit President Rodrigo Duterte's government, one of his allies said Thursday.

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano made the conclusion after a Duterte critic, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, tried to link Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre to the alleged attempt by immigration officials to extort P50 million from online casino operator Jack Lam.

Cayetano said it was Aguirre who exposed the bribe attempt in exchange for the freedom of 1,316 Chinese nationals who were arrested for working in Lam’s casino without proper documents.

“May mga nagpapalabas kasi (Some are trying to make it appear) that this hearing is an evidence of corruption of the Duterte administration, while I think it is the reverse,” Cayetano said.

Trillanes also alleged that Aguirre knew about Lam’s illegal operations, having served as chief legal counsel of Clark Development Corp. (CDC) from 2013 to 2016.

TEXT MESSAGES

At a hearing on Thursday, Trillanes presented copies of text messages supposedly sent by immigration officer Al Argosino to Lam’s alleged middleman, former police officer Wally Sombero.

A copy of the text message read: “I’m arranging a meeting with a person with very good connection with the President. I may bring him to you and Jack Lamb (sic) for discussion.”

Sombero confirmed receiving the first text message but he said he did not reply to it. Argosino refused to confirm the message.

Another supposed text message from Argosino to Sombero, which was presented by Trillanes, read: "Copy. Please stand by. I’m arranging meeting with President’s eldest brother and his son in law. This is bigtime meeting once meeting will push through tonight. Prepare bigtime also."

Sombero confirmed receiving the message but said he did not see reason to reply.