Palace to Roque: Don’t hide behind asylum bid
Lawyer and ex-presidential spokesperson Harry Roque should not use his request for political asylum to evade arrest for a human trafficking case issued by a court in connection with illegal activities of a Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo), Malacañang said on Friday.
Palace press officer, Undersecretary Claire Castro of the Presidential Communications Office, also brushed aside Roque’s claim that he was a victim of political persecution due to his close ties to the Duterte family, particularly former President Rodrigo Duterte and his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte.
The former president is being held on the charge of murder as a crime against humanity in a detention facility of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, the Netherlands, where Roque is seeking asylum on grounds of alleged political persecution and unjust prosecution.
“If there is a valid warrant of arrest and he has to face charges, then he should not hide behind his petition for asylum,” said Castro, adding that Roque should prove that moves to bring him back to the Philippines to face the case were efforts to politically persecute and harass him.
“So, for him not to be arrested since he is facing a valid arrest warrant, he should prove that bringing him home through the Interpol is because of mere harassment,” she said.
Interpol an option
The Interpol, or International Criminal Police Organization, could help the Philippines enforce the arrest warrant on Roque issued by the Angeles City Regional Trial Court (RTC), according to Department of Justice (DOJ) spokesperson Mico Clavano.
It is one of the “diplomatic channels available” in bringing Roque home to face the human trafficking case filed against him and more than 50 others, many of them foreigners, Clavano said.
One of the accused, Chinese-Filipino businesswoman Cassandra Li Ong, is presumed to still be in the Philippines and prosecutors will likely apply for a hold departure order to ensure that she and others who are in the country cannot escape, according to Clavano.
On May 8, Angeles City RTC Branch 118 found probable cause to hold Roque, Ong and the rest liable for violations of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 over their alleged part in the illegal activities of a Pogo hub in Porac town that was being run by Lucky South 99 Outsourcing Inc. The allegations included torture, human trafficking and illegal scamming.
Roque was identified as the legal officer of the company.
Hague appearance
The sprawling Pogo compound was raided and shut down in June 2024. The authorities rescued 158 foreigners and 29 Filipinos. President Marcos later ordered all Pogos, which boomed under the Duterte administration, closed by the end of the year.
Days after Duterte was flown to The Hague on March 11 from Manila as part of the Philippines’ “obligations” to the Interpol, Roque appeared in the Dutch city and announced his asylum bid.
Roque—a fierce critic of Mr. Marcos and a loyal supporter of the former president and his daughter—said he had the right to refoulement under international law. This means that he cannot be returned to his home country where he might face torture, cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment and other irreparable harm until the investigation of his request for asylum is finished.
‘I am a victim’
“I am a victim of political persecution by the Marcos government because I am an ally of the Dutertes,” he said in a statement after the arrest warrant for him came out.
“I will seek all available legal remedies to secure my life and liberty which are currently under threat. I reiterate: this is not flight as evidence of guilt but the exercise of a human right to asylum,” Roque said.
Clavano clarified that the effort to arrest the accused, including Roque, was “a matter of prosecution for a crime in the Philippines.”
“He is one of many accused in the case. He is not being singled out,” he said, adding that Roque has a venue to clear his name.
On Facebook live on Thursday night from the Netherlands, Roque said the case against him would “further strengthen” his asylum application.
“I never recruited anyone and there was no connivance and the only thing they are pressing against me is being a lawyer … to make sure that the leasing operations of my client’s company are legal,” he said.
Unkept promise to House
Castro dismissed the “narrative and defense” cited by the former presidential spokesperson.
She said he did not even make good on his promise to provide documents to the quad committee of the House of Representatives while it was investigating irregularities and criminal activities involving Pogos. Castro was referring to financial papers on Roque’s suspected unexplained wealth.
The two senators who led vigorous investigations of Pogos on Friday hailed the issuance of the arrest warrants.
“Following the court’s order, I urge law enforcers to ensure that those guilty of wrongdoing are swiftly brought to justice regardless of their stature or influence,” said Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, chair of the Senate committee on ways and means which opened an inquiry into Pogos.
“The arrest order affirms what we have long asserted—that Pogos are deeply involved in the worst kinds of criminal activities, including human trafficking,” he said in a statement.
Gatchalian said that operators of the now-banned gaming facilities had ventured into “backyard criminal operations.”
Risa reiterates call
Sen. Risa Hontiveros, who had separately presided over the Senate investigation of the offshore gaming industry during the Duterte administration, dared Roque anew to return to the country to face trial.
“Harry Roque must be compelled to return to the Philippines. If he doesn’t, not only would he be evading an arrest order from Congress, he would also be defying a lawful order from (the) court,” Hontiveros said.
As a lawyer and officer of the court, the former Malacañang official “knows that avoiding the law is wrong,” she said.
Hontiveros said the sprawling complex of Lucky South 99 was “one of the biggest scam compounds in the country.”
“Human trafficking, kidnapping, torture, money laundering and other crimes were rampant. It is just appropriate that those accused must face the court,” the senator said. —WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH
