THE PNP yesterday said former presidential spokesman Harry Roque, who had been ordered arrested by the House of Representatives, was sighted twice in Mindanao last month.
The House quad committee has ordered the arrest of Roque after citing him in contempt for failing to submit subpoenaed documents in connection with the panel’s ongoing probe on the operations of illegal offshore gaming hubs.
In a press briefing at Camp Crame, PNP spokesperson Brig. Gen. Jean Fajardo said Roque was monitored at two areas in Mindanao last September.
However, she said the former presidential spokesman was no longer in the said areas when the police went there to serve the House’s arrest order.
“We are receiving some information that he is still in the country, transferring from one area to another,” said Fajardo, citing information from the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group which is leading efforts to locate and arrest Roque.
“Without revealing (the specific areas), this September or before the end of September, he was monitored at two areas particularly in Mindanao. However, when we went there, he was no longer around,” she said.
“We are not making excuses, we’re continuing with our efforts to locate (Roque),” she added.
Last month, the PNP reported that Roque was also sighted in Central Luzon and Calabarzon. Lawmen also went to these areas but failed to arrest Roque.
Policemen have been to the known addresses of Roque but also failed to get him.
Fajardo reiterated the PNP’s warning that charges may be filed against people who will be found harboring Roque.
“Again, we want to remind those people who are coddling Atty. Roque that they may face charges of obstruction of justice for intentionally harboring a person being search or being hunted by the PNP and other law enforcement agencies,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) yesterday said it is alarmed by information that Filipinos, who are formerly workers of Chinese-run Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) hubs, are now operating their own scam farms.
“This is a big problem for our country. This is a ticking time bomb,” PAOCC spokesman Winston Casio told a radio interview.
Last week, Casio confirmed that Filipinos who used to work with POGO hubs that were raided and closed have established their own online scam networks. He said some of them were arrested in the past months.
“We have seen the trend and in the past months, we’ve raided (their scam farms),” Casio said yesterday, supporting his earlier revelation.
“These (Filipinos) are veterans, alumni of POGO hubs that we raided before,” he also said.
Casio said hundreds of Filipino POGO workers have been arrested in the campaign against POGO hubs, but “due to lack of material time to be able to develop a credible case against most of these Filipinos, we let them go with a stern warning not to involve themselves again (in POGO operations) and that if we get them again, we’ll do our best to charge them.”
“Just imagine, if we apprehend 400 Filipino in a scam farm (POGO), how are you going to develop a case against 400 Filipinos?” Casio asked.
Casio said some of these former POGO workers have been running their own scam farms for some time now.
“The problem is there is some sort of technology transfer, technical transfer,” he said, referring to the skills learned by Filipinos from the Chinese who operated the now-closed POGOs.
