DOJ asks DFA: Probe Roque’s many passports
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said on Tuesday that he would seek the cooperation of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to look into the supposedly multiple Philippine passports issued to former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque.
“He has at least two Philippine passports. Maybe two or three, so we still have to verify …. That’s not allowed. There should only be one,” Remulla said in a chance interview.
“We will ask the DFA about it because the DFA is the one that issues those, not the DOJ (Department of Justice), not [the Bureau of] Immigration. We will ask the DFA to cooperate with us,” he added.
Canceled without prejudice
Reacting to Remulla’s claim, Roque said in a statement that he was using only one regular passport, which was currently with Dutch authorities as part of his application for asylum.
“For the record, I am currently using one regular passport, because the other regular one (still current) has no more blank pages. The Department of Foreign Affairs would certainly know that the previous current one [was] canceled without prejudice,” Roque said.
According to him, he stopped using his diplomatic passport after leaving the government.
On Monday, Remulla disclosed that the DOJ had sought the cancellation of Roque’s passport, as he faces a nonbailable case in the Philippines.
Roque, who is claiming political persecution as the reason for his asylum application in the Netherlands, was ordered arrested earlier this month by an Angeles City Regional Trial Court after state prosecutors charged him and over 40 others with qualified human trafficking and multiple counts of human trafficking.
The charges were filed in connection with the illegal operations of a Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) hub in Porac, Pampanga. Lucky South 99 was raided and shut down by law enforcers in June 2024 following allegations of torture, human trafficking and illegal scamming activities.
According to authorities, Roque used “his legal expertise to facilitate [the] illegal operation.”
Deportation
If the Dutch government rejects the former presidential spokesperson’s asylum application and his Philippine passport is revoked, this will lead to his deportation as an undocumented alien, according to Remulla.
The DOJ chief noted that Roque may have exited the country illegally through backdoor routes, possibly in the southern part of the country, particularly in Tawi-Tawi.
“That’s what we saw as [a possibility] when he left because there was no alarm even though there was already a lookout bulletin (against him),” Remulla said, adding that Roque most likely took a small boat or a speedboat going to Malaysia.
