2 days ago
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Janvic Mateo - The Philippine Star
March 24, 2025 | 12:00am
Ex-presidential spokesperson Harry Roque is in the Hague, Netherlands following the arrest of the former president Rodrigo Duterte for crimes against humanity.
One News via Gretchen Ho / Philstar.com's screenshot
MANILA, Philippines — An online petition seeking to block the asylum bid of former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque has already gathered over 11,000 signatures.
The petition, initiated by Filipino-Dutch author Joel Vega, urges the Immigration and Naturalization Service of the Netherlands to deny Roque’s asylum bid.
“Roque is not only unqualified for asylum in a great free country like the Netherlands. He also does not meet the formal requirements for asylum,” the petition read.
It alleged that Roque was “misusing the Dutch system” to evade ongoing investigations against him in the Philippines.
Roque, who is facing an arrest warrant for failing to appear before the House quad committee, earlier said he will apply for asylum as he is a victim of “political persecution.”
The petitioners disputed Roque’s claim.
“The irony of his situation appears to be lost on Roque. He is doing this to try and escape Philippine justice by using the Dutch asylum system as a tool to stay in the Netherlands, at least while his spurious asylum application is considered, as they would protect him in country while the case is pending,” read the petition.
“He would therefore be immune from deportation to the Philippines, while in the meantime he tries to take on the role of defense counsel for (former) president (Rodrigo) Duterte. This is totally unacceptable to us,” it added.
Vega, a Dutch citizen and natural-born Filipino, earlier publicized his letter to the director-general of the Netherlands’ Immigration and Naturalization Service, seeking to block Roque’s asylum bid.
“Mr. Roque’s motive to elude accountability or investigations into his alleged dubious links with POGO (Philippine offshore gaming operations) personalities and issues also violates Dutch rules on asylum procedures since Mr. Roque does not face or is threatened with the death penalty, torture, or execution in his country of birth,” he wrote.
“Contrary to his claims, the Congressional and Senate hearings in the Philippines are meant to enable him to fully explain his actions regarding salient POGO issues,” added the Dutch-Filipino author.
Addressing efforts to block his asylum, Roque wrote in Filipino on Facebook, “To those who want to block my asylum: remove (President) Marcos and imprison all CPP-NPA (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army) terrorists! That is a sure way to deny my asylum!”
It was unclear how removing Marcos and dealing with communist groups will impact his asylum application.
Earlier, Vice President Sara Duterte said Roque would not be part of her father’s legal team, to allow him to focus on his asylum application.
