Medical certificate leaves Roque stranded in The Hague
Former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque remains in The Hague despite claiming earlier that he was scheduled to fly to Vienna on Nov. 25, the same day the Department of Foreign Affairs announced the cancellation of his Philippine passport due to a qualified human trafficking case filed against him.
In a Facebook livestream on Tuesday night, Roque said he chose not to push through with his trip to Austria where authorities were supposed to receive him as an asylum seeker.
“I am here in The Hague,” he told viewers. “My flight to Vienna did not push through. I was asked to disembark.” This was after airport personnel learned he had a medical certificate that declared him “unfit to fly” after his recent surgery.
Just hours before, he posted on his Facebook page a photo of his KLM boarding pass for his flight to Vienna after news spread in Manila that he had been arrested in the Netherlands where he has sought political asylum.
Roque is facing qualified human trafficking charges for his alleged role as the legal officer of Lucky South 99, which ran a Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) hub that was shut down in June 2024 over allegations of torture, human trafficking and scamming. On Monday, the Pasig court in charge of his case ordered the cancellation of his passport.
According to Roque, he was supposed to fly out of the Netherlands to be received by Vienna under the “Dublin Regulation” for asylum seekers of the European Union (EU).
Dublin Regulation
“In my case, the country that issued my visa was Austria. That’s why the Netherlands decided that Austria should be the one to give me protection,” he said.
Under EU rules, the “country through which the asylum seeker first entered Europe is responsible for processing their asylum application,” the Dutch government said in its website.
According to Roque, Dutch authorities booked his flight to Vienna and he thought he could not refuse despite being advised against traveling.
“So when they saw my medical passport that I have a certificate that I am unfit to fly … suddenly … the captain had to clarify if I really am agreeing to fly. So I was asked and I said, ‘I thought I had no choice.’ I really thought that the Dutch government had to fly me,” he said.
Sought for comment, Chief State Counsel Dennis Arvin Chan said the Department of Justice will not interfere in Roque’s asylum request, adding that they trust Austrian authorities “will do the necessary research” to validate his claims.
Asked how the Philippine government would respond to Roque’s claim of political persecution, Chan said that asylum proceedings were confidential. —WITH A REPORT FROM JANE BAUTISTA
