Harry Roque, former presidential spokesperson to Rodrigo Duterte, discreetly left the country for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) when he was faced with a congressional warrant. But he did so under the radar as immigration authorities could not find any record of port departure.
To this day, there is no court-issued warrant for Roque and thus no legal barrier for him to leave the country, but the Bureau of Immigration (BI) is still mulling filing a potential case against him for falsification of records.
Immigration chief Joel Viado said that based on their records, Roque did not leave the country, or even attempt to leave, via formal channels.
“He most probably falsified immigration clearances to be accepted by his destination country,” Viado said.
“It’s impossible that he left via formal ports. His name is in the BI’s Lookout Bulletin, and he is a very well-known public figure. You can spot him miles away,” he added.
Why UAE?
Roque’s travel to UAE was made known only when he had to go to the embassy in Abu Dhabi to swear to his counter-affidavit that he then submitted to the Philippine Department of Justice (DOJ) to answer a human trafficking complaint.
Roque was part of a supplemental list of repondents filed by law enforcement in the complaint related to the raided scam farm in Porac, Pampanga. Roque is linked there by virtue of his lawyering for some of the company officials.
Although he admits to lawyering for the lessor Whirlwind in an ejectment case, and then helping Lucky South 99 POGO representative Cassandra Ong to set meetings with Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation regulators, Roque denied that this necessarily makes him the lawyer of the scam farm, moreso liable for whatever crimes the company might have committed.
Roque’s counter-affidavit shows he had subscribed to it before Philippine embassy officials in Abu Dhabi.
“I’m no longer in Abu Dhabi. I went to Abu Dhabi para mag-subscribe ‘yan [to subscribe to my affidavit], but I’m no longer in Abu Dhabi,” the former presidential spokesperson said. “… I had to have my sworn statement notarized. I came to [the] UAE just for the purpose of notarizing that,” Roque said via Zoom.
He confirmed that he is still outside the country.
Abu Dhabi is where the embassy of the Philippines is, so it was required of him to go there to subscribe to his counter-affidavit. Could he have gone to Abu Dhabi from Dubai?
Rumors had earlier swirled among quad committee members that Roque had already flown to Dubai, but these suspicions were never confirmed, and only fueled now because of his trip to the embassy in Abu Dhabi.
Rappler has traced properties in Dubai that belong to other people linked to former president Rodrigo Duterte. Our earlier investigation showed that Duterte’s one-time economic adviser Michael Yang, and his close associate and Pharmally financial manager Lin Weixiong bought properties there in 2021. Yang had also flown to Dubai last May, his records showed. Rappler confirmed this with the justice department.
Another Dubai property owner is Roque’s lessee in Benguet. Roque leased out their family townhouse in Benguet to a Chinese woman he had identified as Anna. In a later mission order on the townhouse, Immigration authorities arrested a man who identified himself as Cambodian, but who later turned out to be a Chinese citizen wanted for involvement in an investment scam.
The Chinese fugitive was Anna’s partner, Roque had told the House of Representatives. Rappler obtained a copy of Anna’s passport. Dubai’s Land Registry confirmed that Anna, using the Chinese passport that we have on file, is registered as a property owner in Dubai.
“Ang Dubai ay isang POGO hub kaya baka mga POGO actors din ang tumulong sa kanya (Dubai is a POGO hub so POGO actos might have helped him escape),” Senator Risa Hontiveros, who led the Senate probe into POGOs, said.
Roque’s wife Mylah was also in Abu Dhabi when they sought consular services, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs. Mylah Roque was also ordered arrested by the House quad committee although much later, in October.
“The Philippine embassy in Abu Dhabi extended consular services to Mr. and Mrs. Roque, as required for documents executed abroad for use in the Philippines. They were able to present valid passports and appear to be staying in the UAE legally,” said Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Teresita Daza.
Timeline
Viado said that Roque’s last travel, based on Immigration records, was in July 2024 when he returned from Los Angeles, California.
By August, the DOJ had included him in the Immigration Lookout Bulletin order (ILBO), still in relation to the Porac, Pampanga scam farm. The companies in Porac, the lessor Whirlwind, and the Lucky South 99 POGO had denied they were running a scam farm.
By September, the House of Representatives quad committee had ordered Roque’s arrest and detention after the human rights lawyer stopped attending the hearings. Roque refused to submit documents of his own company, which had generated interest among quad committee members because of jumps in assets.
Still, both the ILBO and the House warrant are not sufficient legal grounds to stop Roque from traveling abroad, even if he had departed via an official port. Only a court-issued warrant can result in a travel prohibition by virtue of a Hold Departure Order (HDO), which is issued by a judge after the warrant.
The DOJ had said it will apply for a precautionary HDO (PHDO) against Roque, which is an option available to prosecutors when they think the subject of a complaint is a flight-risk. This can be applied even if there is no warrant yet, but it still needs to be approved by a judge.
Prosecutor General Richard Fadullon said on Tuesday that they had already applied for a PHDO, although it’s unclear when this PHDO was issued, or if it was issued at all. “I will talk to the panel [of prosecutors] about it [PHDO],” said Fadullon.
This was the exact same scenario of dismissed Bamban mayor Alice Guo, who left the country with only an ILBO and a House warrant. There was no PHDO against Guo, because the DOJ did not apply for it.
Until now, there is still no clear information on to how Guo was able to pass through the authorities’ supposed strict security.
“Unfortunately at this point, we cannot say with finality how she was able to depart from the Philippines. But the Bureau of Immigration commits to continue [the] investigation and continue coordinating with other concerned agencies in the Philippines and other immigration officials from other countries,” Viado said.
What happens to the complaint?
The prosecutors are now at the preliminary investigation stage when they have to determine whether or not they would file a case against Roque and others for trafficking. The reason why Roque was required to file his counter-affidavit was to explain his side before the prosecution decides on the suit.
Failure to do so would allow the prosecutors to submit the case for resolution or file it in court.
“Now, even if he submits a counter-affidavit through his lawyers, doesn’t mean the panel will immediately accept that. Because number one, he’s not within the jurisdiction of our panel here in the Philippines,” Fadullon explained.
“The only way that we can consider that, is, if he executes the affidavit and has it notarized or apostilled before the embassy of the country where he is at that particular time,” he added.
But Roque insists that he no longer needs to appear again before a Philippine embassy to subscribe his affidavit.
The issue of jurisdiction is important for practical reasons.
The prosecutors are careful in accepting Roque’s affidavit because they have to ensure that they can bring him to court should they pursue the case.
In other words, if the prosecution indicted Roque, they should be able to reach him to continue the case. If not, even if there’s a case filed in court, the tribunal may archive the case until the arrest of the accused. – with reports from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP)/ Rappler.com