Prosecutors junk Trillanes’ libel, cyber libel complaints vs Harry Roque

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'It's too early for him to celebrate. Hindi pa nga siya makauwi,' former senator Antonio Trillanes IV says

BAGUIO, Philippines – Quezon City prosecutors have cleared former Palace spokesperson Harry Roque in a cyber libel complaint filed by former senator Antonio Trillanes IV.

The Quezon City prosecutor’s office dismissed Trillanes’ complaint for insufficiency of evidence in a resolution dated October 9, 2024, but made public by Roque only on Wednesday, April 23.

“I thank the public prosecutors for applying the law on libel correctly,” Roque said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Trillanes said he is set to file a motion for reconsideration to appeal the resolution favoring former president Rodrigo Duterte’s ally.

“It’s too early for him to celebrate. Hindi pa nga siya makauwi (He cannot even return yet). Anyway, we will still be filing a motion for reconsideration today,” the former opposition senator told Rappler.

Back in May 2024, Trillanes filed the complaints after he was accused by Roque and vlogger Banat By of allegedly giving away Scarborough Shoal (Panatag Shoal) to China during backchannel talks in 2012.

Trillanes said Roque made the allegations in a video clip posted on the former presidential spokesperson’s Meta page. Banat By, meanwhile, was implicated after he published Roque’s video and then posted his own “expressing his concurrence with the sentiments of Roque.”

Apart from Trillanes’ complaints, Roque faces another set of complaints over a different allegation. Duterte’s former spokesperson is facing a non-bailable trafficking complaint over his alleged ties to the now-banned Philippine offshore gaming operators in Porac, Pampanga. 

In hiding for months now, Roque is up for arrest because of a House of Representatives order. After his initial detention in 2024, he was ordered nabbed again on September 12 last year after he was cited in contempt due to non-compliance with the chamber’s subpoena.

Elusive Roque then made a public appearance on March 14 in The Hague, Netherlands, where his former principal is detained due to a crimes against humanity case with the International Criminal Court. Roque also applied for asylum in the European country, but some experts have already said that his asylum request might be standing on shaky ground. – Rappler.com