13 hours ago
2
MANILA, Philippines — After Vice President Sara Duterte clarified that former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque is not part of her father’s legal team in the International Criminal Court (ICC) proceedings, House leaders urged Roque to return to the Philippines and stop evading legal processes seeking to hold him accountable for alleged offenses.
In a press conference on Thursday, March 20, Deputy Majority Leader Paolo Ortega V (La Union, 1st District) said Roque should “come home and face the music.”
Roque remains under an outstanding contempt citation and detention order from the House Quad Committee conducting the probe into the illegal operations of Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs).
Lawmakers accused him of repeatedly dodging hearings where he was compelled to appear through a show-cause order and subpoenas on financial documents related to the sudden surge in his assets.
He has also evaded law enforcement attempts to serve the arrest order since September 2024. Even the Bureau of Immigration (BI) and National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) were unable to verify exactly how Roque left the Philippines to travel. The BI said they could not find a recorded departure in their books.
“Marami pong katanungan na naiwan nung umalis po siya especially nung nasa Quad Comm tayo.… Pero sabi ko nga the best-case scenario for him is he come home, kasi hindi naman po siya part ng magiging mga legal counsel ni [former President Rodrigo] Duterte,” Ortega said.
(Many questions were left unanswered when he left, especially during the Quad Committee hearings.… But as I said, the best-case scenario for him is to come home since he is not part of Duterte’s legal counsel.)
The BI and NICA, however, revealed in a recent Senate hearing that Roque had traveled to Japan, Macau and Dubai.
After months of evading authorities, Roque was first seen by Philippine media in The Hague, Netherlands, just hours before Duterte's first ICC hearing for crimes against humanity on March 14.
He also attempted to represent Rodrigo in the proceedings, but on Wednesday, March 19, Sara clarified that he is not part of the defense team. She said they want Roque to “focus on his asylum,” and the legal counsel for the trial should focus on her father’s case.
Roque said on Monday, March 17, that he will be applying for political asylum in the Netherlands, citing the alleged “political persecution” he is facing in the Philippines.
Former Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, who represented Duterte at his initial appearance — where the charges and his rights were read — will also step down as his legal counsel. Sara said the defense team will be composed of legal counsel with prior “ICC experience.”
House Minority Deputy Leader France Castro (ACT Teachers Party-list), alongside Makabayan lawmakers, criticized Roque in a joint statement on Thursday, condemning it as infuriating that a former human rights lawyer would “use legal technicalities to escape being held accountable.”
"Ang pagtatago ni Roque sa Netherlands habang walang opisyal na papel sa ICC proceedings ay tahasang pag-iwas sa accountability," she said.
(Roque hiding in the Netherlands without an official role in the ICC proceedings is a blatant attempt to evade accountability.)
Meanwhile, Assistant Majority Leader Zia Alonto Adiong (Lanao del Sur, 1st District) suggested that Roque’s exclusion from Rodrigo’s legal team may be due to their awareness of the contempt citations against him and a qualified human trafficking complaint filed with the Department of Justice (DOJ) over his alleged ties to POGOs.
“Umalis na po siya. (He should leave already) … So as a lawyer himself he knows quite very well that he needs to respect the law, he needs to have himself presented before the court so that he can clear his name,” Adiong said.
“He has to come home and he needs to face the charges, that's his opportunity to clear his name. He's a lawyer, he knows how to deal with it,” he added.
If the Netherlands rejects his application for asylum, Adiong said that Roque should return to the Philippines, “there’s no place like home, Atty. Roque,” he added.
No case yet has been filed before a court regarding the human trafficking complaint. The complaint and available evidence are still being evaluated by the DOJ’s Office of the Prosecutor, according to Justice Secretary Boying Remulla.
The BI also said Roque may be placed under the watchlist of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) if a court issues an arrest warrant for him. — report by Dominique Nicole Flores
