Roque denies using post for Senate run in 2019

MANILA, Philippines — Presidential spokesman Harry Roque on Monday denied that he was using his new post to prepare for an eventual senatorial candidacy in May 2019.

The new presidential spokesperson is widely believed to be eyeing a Senate candidacy after he shelved this plan and ran as a party-list representative instead in 2016.

On Sunday, Roque conducted a media conference with the local press in vote-rich Cebu City and expressed his desire to have press briefings in different provinces.

"I don’t think so. There is no election period yet. But if the people really don’t want me to go to the provinces, I will heed that. But let’s see how the public will first respond to it," he said when asked about concerns that he was using his office to further his political plans.

He also allayed fears that his plan to go to different locations in the country to meet their local press would lead to runaway costs for his office, something that his principal is strongly against.

Roque said that different government offices already had a nationwide infrastructure which his office could talk advantage of in its plan to visit different provinces.

"If not, the PIA then RTVM, if not RTVM then PTV-4. I was in Cebu, in fact, yesterday and the press briefing there for the local media was organized by RTVM and PTV-4, which both have offices in Malacañang," he said.

He also shared that many local journalists were appreciative of his plan to directly interact with local media, saying that past spokespersons ignored them altogether.

He also assured them that he would not discriminate among the Malacañang Press Corps, international and provincial journalists.

"So, I told them that, 'I go by the policy of first come, first serve if I can answer,' so I would not discriminate," he said.

"I think it’s equally important to keep the public in the provinces informed," he added.

Just days before his appointment to be the chief executive's spokesperson, Duterte endorsed Roque as a senatorial candidate.

In an October 22 speech, the president revealed that Roque had been campaigning even before he formally announced his bid and filed his certificate of candidacy.

Roque, a well-known human rights lawyer who handled cases such as the Jennifer Laude murder and killing of journalist and environmentalist Gerry Ortega, expressed his support for Duterte's brutal campaign against illegal drugs which invited both local and international criticisms for allegations of human rights abuses and extralegal killings.

“I will not forget Harry,” the tough-talking Duterte said.

Before becoming Duterte's presidential spokesperson, Roque served as the representative of Kabayan party-list from which he faced ouster moves after he asked lewd questions during a House committee hearing into the complicity of detained Sen. Leila De Lima in the illegal drug trade at the National Bilibid Prisons.