Was ex-presidential mouthpiece Harry Roque involved in crimes at offshore gaming facilities in the Philippines? If so, how deeply? These are the questions before the country’s Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC).
PAOCC representative Winston Casio said Roque’s name is ubiquitous in documents unearthed at POGO hubs raided in May and June.
“His name keeps on cropping up – in the documents, in the digital footprint, in the testimonial footprint,” Casio said. “We cannot discount his possible involvement in all of these matters.”
Crimes included online scams, human trafficking
“These matters,” of course, refers to crimes allegedly committed at the POGOs, including online scams, human trafficking and torture.
After the May raid in Bamban, Tarlac Province, hundreds of foreign and Filipino workers were freed. Some testified that they had been lured by promises of good-paying jobs, then forced to work without pay, and sometimes abused.
In the June raid in Porac, Pampanga, several hundreds workers were released. Some made similar claims of maltreatment. Local media reported that apparent torture devices were found at the facility.
On 22 July, following the lurid headlines, Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. banned the offshore gaming centres outright.
Allegedly served as POGO lobbyist
Since then, the former mayor of Bamban, Alice Guo, has been tied to the operation of the Tarlac POGO. A subsequent probe revealed she is not Filipina, but a Chinese national known as Gua Hua Ping. Guo fled the country before she could be detained, and is reportedly hiding out in Indonesia.
Another suspect in the case, Cassandra Ong, was part of the team that ran the raided POGO in Porac, Pampanga. According to local media, Roque served as that POGO’s lobbyist before the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor). Ong was apprehended last week in Indonesia and returned to the Philippines, where she is in government custody.
In a July statement, Roque said he never had a lawyer-client relationship with the Porac POGO, Lucky South 99. He added that it was not under suspicion of wrongdoing in 2023, when he helped it reapply for licensure from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor).
Casio acknowledged that the PAOCC found nothing suspicious about these documents initially. But with the latest statement of Chair Tengco that Roque pressured Pagcor to grant licenses to these scam farms, these documents take on a different character. This will now be a subject of investigation.
Roque claims ‘trial by publicity’
Roque continues to protest his innocence. In a 24 August statement, he said PAOCC seems to be “fond of publicity.”
“If asked about the status of the case, PAOCC always says they are still consolidating the evidence. But they are doing interviews left and right.
“Stop this trial by publicity that has no basis,” he said. “I reiterate my call to the PAOCC: submit their evidence to the prosecutor’s office. File a case so I can defend myself in the proper court.”
However, Roque was cited for contempt after lying to investigators to avoid a 16 August hearing. He claimed he had another court hearing at the time, a claim later discovered to be untrue.
“I hate to say it, but clearly attorney Harry Roque, our former secretary and my former law professor lied to this committee,” said Philippines Rep. Ron Salo. “That amounts to disrespect to the members of the committee, which is contemptable.”
Casio says he doesn’t believe in coincidence anymore as far as Harry Roque is concerned. “His footprint is everywhere. But of course, you have to put one plus equals two to build a case.”