There is no indication former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque has left the country amid orders for his arrest from the House of Representatives, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said on Wednesday.
“Based as ating coordination sa [Bureau of Immigration], wala pa naman pong indication na nakalabas po siya,” PNP spokesperson Police Colonel Jean Fajardo said in a press briefing.
(Based on our coordination with the Bureau of Immigration, there is no indication yet that he has exited the country.)
PNP tracker teams have already gone to the registered offices and addresses of the embattled lawyer but he was not present at any of these locations.
Due to this, Fajardo said the police are guarding possible ingress points that Roque could use in case he tries to escape from authorities.
“Definitely, yung Customs is on alert. I think meron na siyang immigration lookout bulletin order. So yung mga ports natin tinitignan natin in coordination again sa mga relevant government agencies,” she added.
(Definitely, the Bureau of Customs is on alert. I think he already has an immigration lookout bulletin order. So we are looking at our ports in coordination again with the relevant government agencies.)
Fajardo called on Roque, who served as spokesperson during the Duterte administration, to respect the process as “no one is above the law.”
Roque was cited in contempt and ordered detained by four House of Representatives committees or “QuadComms” last September 13 after he refused to submit documents that would supposedly justify his increased wealth.
The QuadComm made the move after Roque initially agreed to submit documents that would explain the increase of his assets under his family’s Biancham Holdings and Trading from P125,000 in 2014, P3.125 million in 2015 and P67.7 million in 2018.
In response, Roque filed a motion to quash the subpoena duces tecum on the said documents.
On Monday, Roque accused Congress of “power tripping” following contempt and arrest orders issued against him due to his alleged link to illegal operations of Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGO).
The lawyer maintained that he is not a fugitive.
“Hindi ako pugante dahil ako po ay lumabag sa batas. Pugante ako sa Kongreso lamang, wala po akong pakialam. Dahil ang tingin ko naman kung ay na-cite in contempt of Congress, ang Kongreso naman po ay cited in contempt of the people of the Philippines,” Roque said in a live video posted on Facebook.
(I am not a fugitive because I violated the law. It’s only Congress that considers me a fugitive, and I don’t care. The way I see it, if Congress cited me in contempt, I think Congress is cited in contempt by the people of the Philippines.)
“Hindi po tama yung ginagawa nila, pasigaw-sigaw, kapag ayaw ng sagot contempt kaagad. Nagpa-power tripping na po sila”, he said during the almost 14-minute long video.
(What they are doing is wrong, they keep on shouting, and they cite anyone in contempt if they don’t like their response. They are power tripping.) —RF, GMA Integrated News
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