FORMER presidential spokesman Harry Roque is now considered as a “fugitive” and has allegedly gone into hiding to evade the warrant of arrest and order of detention issued by the House quad committee, which is looking into his alleged links to Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), after he was cited in contempt for a second time last week.
Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel made the statement yesterday as he noted that the House Sergeant-at-Arms and the PNP have not been able to locate Roque in the past three days.
“Since Friday, he’s into hiding. We already consider him as a fugitive because the police and the (House) Sergeant-at-Arms couldn’t find him,” Pimentel told ANC. “This is just an inquiry. There are no cases filed yet. So, if he has nothing to hide, why doesn’t he want to appear in our committee?”
Pimentel said the quad comm, which is led by Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, may move to request the Bureau of Immigration to issue a hold-departure order against Roque to prevent him from leaving the country if the former Duterte spokesman does not attend the joint panel’s next hearing.
Roque was cited in contempt for the second time last week for not submitting documents such as business records, his and his wife’s income tax returns (ITR) in Bianchum Corporation, and his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) from 2016 to 2022.
The four committees have also required the trust agreement which Roque mentioned when he was asked about the transfer of his shareholdings to lawyer Persival Ortega in 2020.
The quad comm rejected Roque’s motion to quash the joint panel’s order for him to submit the financial papers and other documents following the revelations of his alleged link to the operations of the raided Porac, Pampanga POGO Lucky South 99.
Roque has earlier accused the House of going after him for being a critic of the Marcos Jr. administration.
Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro has said the quad comm was able to show the sudden and questionable increase in Roque’s assets in his family holding corporation and other subsidiaries when he was a presidential spokesperson with “limited income.”
“Let us remember that one of the controversies that we are investigating right now is the POGO operation. Amid the overwhelming circumstantial evidence (is) his connection, Atty. Harry Roque’s, connection to Lucky South the POGO operation,” Luistro said last hearing.
“He denies, he vehemently denies this connection to the same. In the last hearing, he even articulated that his money did not come from POGO. I want to remind the community that during those time, Atty. Harry Roque was the presidential spokesperson, a government official whose income is very much limited, this notwithstanding we were able to show to the public the sudden increase of his assets in some corporation and the other subsidiaries,” she also said.
Luistro has maintained that the documents which are being required are relevant to the subject matter of the investigation and “if Harry Roque will not be able to prove the sources of his assets, then there is a possibility in deed that will support his connection to this POGO operation.”
Roque’s alleged linked to POGOs came to light after he asked Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) chair Alejandro Tengco to help Cassandra Li Ong, and even accompanied her, during the two’s meeting last year.
Ong, who has been detained at the House, continue to deny being an incorporator of Lucky South 99, saying she was working for Whirlwind Corp. which only leased its land and buildings to Lucky South 99.
Roque has said he was only lawyering for Whirlwind and not Lucky South.
Last week, Roque’s former executive assistant Alberto Rodulfo “AR” Dela Serna admitted that the two of them once shared a joint bank account, which greatly intrigued lawmakers, particularly Antipolo City Rep. Romeo Acop, a retired police general and lawyer.
Dela Serna, a former male pageant contestant who represented the Philippines in the 2016 Mister Supranational competition in Poland, came under intense public scrutiny after Roque was implicated in the operations of POGO hubs operated by Chinese high rollers.
Dela Serna’s connection to Roque was revealed during a raid by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) on the Lucky South 99 compound where authorities discovered his appointment papers as Executive Assistant III under Roque’s office, dated October 5, 2021, along with an affidavit from Roque assuming full responsibility for Dela Serna’s financial needs during a trip to Poland, Ukraine and Italy in October 2023.
