Lawmaker says Roque’s wife flew to Singapore

MANILA, Philippines — The wife of former presidential spokesman Harry Roque has already left the country for Singapore amid an investigation by the House of Representatives’ quad committee on the couple’s alleged links to Philippines offshore gaming operators (POGOs), according to committee co-chair and Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers.

Myla Roque left the Philippines for Singapore in the first week of September, Barbers said yesterday.

“Then she will not return here. Maybe she’s in the United States already,” Barbers said in an interview.

The quad committee issued Thursday night a show-cause order to Roque’s wife Myla to compel her to attend the panel’s hearings on the activities of POGOs.

“She’s absent twice and the documents that she submitted, the medical certificate is not acceptable to the majority members. It’s like a Clinica Manila certificate,” Barbers said.

According to the panel, Myla Roque is listed as an incorporator of Lucky South 99, an illegal POGO hub in Porac, Pampanga.

She was also allegedly the signatory to the lease contract for a house in Tuba, Benguet where two Chinese nationals linked to POGO were arrested.

Asked about Harry Roque, Barbers said there was no reason for the former presidential spokesman to remain in hiding if he really is not guilty of something.

The committee has a standing arrest order for Roque for contempt for his failure to attend hearings and submit documents that he had promised to turn over.

These documents include his Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth, documents related to his family firm Biancham, a subsidiary in Benguet called PH2 and a deed of sale for a 1.8-hectare Parañaque property.

‘Hunted like Bin Laden’

In a message to The STAR, Roque likened the manhunt for him to the one for terrorist Osama bin Laden, who was killed by US commandos in an attack on his lair in Pakistan in 2011.

“The pressure on me is too much even if there’s no case (against me),” he said in Filipino. “The scale of the manhunt is – it’s as if they’re looking for Osama bin Laden. It’s like in the old days – if they can’t find you, they will turn against your family.

“I will file a petition at the Supreme Court today. Let us wait for the decision,” Roque said of his plea for reprieve from the arrest order issued by lawmakers.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) said anyone found coddling or protecting Roque would be arrested.

“They may be facing criminal charges once proven that they know the whereabouts of Atty. Roque and yet they are providing aid to evade this process,” Col. Jean Fajardo, PNP’s chief publicist, said at a news briefing at Camp Crame.

The PNP, she said, already has a lead on Roque’s whereabouts but would not share details so as not to compromise operations to arrest him.

Fajardo urged Roque to surrender, saying there are legal remedies at his disposal to question the order of the House of Representatives.

“He should know that nobody is above the law and we should respect these court processes and the processes being followed by Congress,” she said.

Cause-oriented group Akbayan, for its part, has put up wanted posters of Roque in Quezon City to help locate the lawyer.

“Our advice to Roque is for him to get out of hiding and face the quad committee. It’s not only the House of Represantives that is looking for him; the people are too,” Akbayan Youth secretary general Khylla Meneses said in a statement.

Meneses said Roque’s ties to POGOs are clear, and any amount of lies and alibis he made to conceal his wrongdoings and protect Duterte will never work this time. — Bella Cariaso, Emmanuel Tupas