FORMER presidential spokesperson Harry Roque yesterday appeared before senators and admitted he is a stakeholder in the firm that owns the house in Tuba, Benguet where operatives recently arrested two foreigners believed to be linked to the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) hub that was raided in Bamban, Tarlac.
Roque attended yesterday’s hearing of the Committee on Women, which is conducting a probe on the social ills of the POGO industry.
He was invited to the hearing after he was named by Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) chairman Alejandro Tengco as the former Cabinet official who facilitated a meeting between him and a representative of Lucky South 99, the POGO hub raided in Porac, Pampanga over reports of human trafficking.
Tengco had said that Roque was the legal counsel of the POGO firm, a statement which the latter had denied.
Roque had initially told the committee staff that he could not attend Monday’s hearing due to a prior commitment, but showed up anyway after his appointment was done.
BENGUET HOUSE
Roque told senators that he lived at the Benguet house after he left the government but clarified that he had long vacated the residence.
He said he did not own the property, which he said was supposedly owned by a company where he has a 10 to 20 percent stake. The majority shares are purportedly owned by the Bianchan Holdings Corporation.
“Meron akong interest sa korporasyon na may-ari ng bahay na ‘yan (I have interests in the corporation which owns the house). In fact, in the near future, I am concluding a transaction na kukunin ko ‘yung buong korporasyon na may-ari ng bahay (so I can take-over the corporation that owns the house),” Roque said.
He said the house has been on lease to a certain Wan Yu, a Chinese citizen, since January this year.
“The possession po diyan is in the hands of Ms. Wan Yun who is a legal resident of the Philippines with an Alien Certificate of Registration and in possession of a 9G working visa,” he said.
Roque vouched that Wan is not involved in the POGO industry, saying that the house’s caretaker checked her background and monitors her activities.
Roque’s statements on the house in Benguet came amid reports that he owned the property where Cambodian national Khuon Moeum and Chinese national Wang Keping were arrested during the weekend by combined operatives of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) and the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC).
BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said operatives went to Benguet to follow-up on a tip that a Chinese woman supposedly involved in the operations of the raided POGO facility in Bamban, Tarlac was allegedly staying in a house in Barangay Poblacion, in Tuba town.
Operatives, however, did not find the subject Chinese national but instead found Khuon and Wang inside the house.
A check of the two foreigners’ documents showed that the Cambodian was an overstaying alien whose passport had a visa validity only until August 2020.
BI intelligence division chief Fortunato Manahan Jr. said that while Wang has a valid working visa, “she may be charged with violation of immigration laws for harboring an illegal alien.”
The two foreigners will be brought to Manila for booking procedures. They will be turned over to the PAOCC while undergoing deportation procedures, Manahan said.
SMEAR CAMPAIGN?
The former Cabinet official told senators that there seems to be a concentered effort to launch a smear campaign against him for his relations to the Duterte family.
“There is a concerted effort to link me in these POGO hubs which I deny,” Roque said.
In a statement after the hearing, he alleged that efforts to malign him was due to his being a member of the Maisug group of Davao City, and for calling for the resignation of President Marcos Jr.
“Because I am a Maisug who has openly called for the resignation of the President given his refusal to deny or admit the allegation that he is a cocaine addict,” he said in explaining his suspicion of a smear campaign.
He added that the allegations of his supposed POGO links “form part of a malicious, well-organized, well-funded, and pernicious demolition job to destroy my name and reputation.”
CUNANAN
Roque reiterated that he did not intercede on behalf of Lucky South 99, the operator of the POGO hub raided in Porac, Pampanga.
“My discussion with the Pagcor chairman centered on the rescheduling of Lucky South’s arrears payment…As of July 26, 2023, Dennis Cunanan was still the registered representative of Lucky South to Pagcor,” he said.
Tengco earlier said that based on his talk with Cassandra Lee Ong, an official of Lucky South 99, the corporation entrusted to Cunanan the payment of its monthly taxes, but the former TLRC official reportedly did not remit them to Pagcor, leaving Lucky South with a $500,000 tax arrear.
Cunanan, a former Technology and Livelihood Resource Center (TLRC) deputy director, attended yesterday’s hearing and denied that he ran off with the money.
“It’s not true, your honor. Everything that were entrusted to us were properly documented, your honor,” Cunanan said.
He said he met the Lucky South 99 officials while they were on a business trip in Angeles City. He said he was introduced to Ong by acquaintances and asked if he can help them in the processing of their documents to put up a POGO facility in Porac town since most Lucky South officials do not know how to speak English.
“They’re looking for somebody who can help them work on things. That’s when it started,” Cunanan said, adding that he owns a consultancy firm.
Sen. Jinggoy Estrada recalled that it was Cunanan who implicated him in one of his “pork barrel” scam cases. He said the TLRC official even testified before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee that he “talked” with the senator on the phone.
Estrada said he does not know Cunanan.
“You said before the committee that it was my voice. You assumed it was my voice. I cannot ever forget you because you are a liar. I’m sorry for bringing this up, Madam Chair, because tinetest ko lang yung credibility ng taong ito (because I am just testing the credibility of this person),” Estrada said.
Before the hearing ended, the committee lifted the contempt citation on Cunanan after accepting his reasons for not attending the committee’s first and second hearings.
Cunanan said he was represented by his legal team during the first hearing, while he was not able to attend the second one since he did not receive the subpoena.
HEARINGS TO CONTINUE
Senate deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros, who has been leading the probe on POGOs, said the committee hearings will continue despite the order of President Marcos to ban POGO operations in the country. industry,
“I want to close this hearing, but we can’t close when we haven’t fully determined who is responsible for these heinous operations that brough torture to our countrymen. They just cannot close shop after filling their vaults with billions gained from scamming and the pain of others. That would not be justice,” Hontiveros said.
