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Lawyer Harry Roque at the Department of Justice in Manila on September 7, 2022. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News/File

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roque-tollosa-doj-GC-6

Katrina Domingo

ABS-CBN News

<div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal"><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1724486455005roque-tollosa-doj-GC-6.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Lawyer Harry Roque at the Department of Justice in Manila on September 7, 2022. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News/File"/><span class="fr-inner"></span></span></span></div><p style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal;text-align:left">Lawyer Harry Roque at the Department of Justice in Manila on September 7, 2022. <em>George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News/File</em></p><div></div><p>MANILA — The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) can no longer discount the possibility that former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque is involved in the illegal gambling operations in Pampanga and Tarlac, the agency&#x27;s spokesperson said on Saturday.</p><p>Roque&#x27;s alleged ties to illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGO) first surfaced earlier this year when the PAOCC found his aide&#x27;s appointment papers as Executive Assistant III under Roque&#x27;s office dated Oct. 5, 2021 in a raid on the Lucky South 99 compound in Porac, Pampanga.</p><p>The raid also yielded an endorsement letter signed by Roque, saying that he would cover the cost of his aide&#x27;s trips to Italy, Poland and Ukraine in October 2023.</p><p>The former Palace spokesperson was also the supposed head of the legal department of Lucky South 99 Outsourcing Inc, a syndicate which authorities said were disguising as a POGO, a document presented before the Senate showed.</p><p>&quot;I would like to give deference to a former Cabinet official… We want to give him the benefit of the doubt,&quot; PAOCC spokesperson Winston Casio said in a press conference.</p><p>&quot;But we cannot discount his possible involvement in all of these matters. I do not believe in coincidences anymore in terms of Harry Roque,&quot; he said.</p><div>&quot;His footprint is everywhere,&quot; he added.<span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/twk8hg09-jo?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><strong>ROQUE MAINTAINS INNOCENCE</strong></div><p>Roque brushed off the PAOCC&#x27;s comments, saying that he is just &quot;waiting for their filing&quot; of cases.</p><p>&quot;No idea what their evidence is… Only acts I did are what I&#x27;ve said on the Senate and House hearings,&quot; Roque&#x27;s statement read.</p><p>&quot;They were acts of lawyering which cannot be deemed as criminal as there were no criminal acts done,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;But as I&#x27;ve said, I&#x27;d like to see their complaint first as I am of the belief that they have absolutely no evidence of wrongdoing,&quot; he said.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/8/22/house-panel-cites-in-harry-roque-in-contempt-for-lying-1916">READ: House panel cites Harry Roque in contempt for &#x27;lying&#x27;</a></div><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/8/23/harry-roque-decries-congress-detention-1439">READ: Harry Roque decries Congress detention, says &#x27;will not bow down to political pressure&#x27;</a></div><p>Roque earlier denied that he was an incorporator of Lucky South 99, and told lawmakers that he only represented Cassandra Ong in what he thought was an estafa case.</p><p>Ong, identified as a consultant and authorized representative of the POGO hub, has since been apprehended by authorities in Indonesia, where she fled to evade possible arrest.</p><p>Earlier this week, lawmakers cited Roque in contempt and ordered his 24-hour detention in the House of Representatives for allegedly lying about his failure to attend a previous congressional inquiry.</p><p>In a letter to the quad comm last August 13, Roque sought to be excused from the August 16 hearing, due to a &quot;conflict with a previously scheduled court hearing before the Regional Trial Court of Manila,&quot; but the panel found that the former spokesperson did not appear before any Manila RTC branch on the said date.</p><p>Roque called the incident an &quot;honest mistake,&quot; saying he had gotten the days of the hearings mixed up.</p><div><strong>ROQUE ACCUSES HOUSE OF POLITICAL PERSECUTION</strong></div><p>Roque — a supporter of the Dutertes — called the allegations against him political persecution.</p><p>He said that members of the House are trying to pin him down to link POGOs to former president Duterte, who is being blamed for the spread of POGOs.</p><p>&quot;Bakit ako ang itinuturo? Hindi naman ako ang nakipag-buddy buddy sa mga POGO. Hindi naman ako ang humingi ng pera sa mga POGO. Hindi naman ako ang nakinabang sa mga POGO,&quot; he said.</p><p>(Why are they pointing at me? I did not play buddy buddy with the POGOs. I did not ask the POGOS for money. I did not benefit from them)</p><p>He also questioned his detention for failing to attend the House hearing, saying it was done to suppress critics of the government.</p><p>&quot;Hindi po &#x27;yan imbestigasyon laban sa POGO. &#x27;Yan po ay imbestigasyon laban kay Harry Roque para mapatahimik si Harry Roque bilang boses ng Sambayanang Pilipino,&quot; he said.</p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pGnTeTVSjLw?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>“[We] cannot discount his possible involvement in all of these matters. I do not believe in coincidences anymore in terms of Harry Roque,” <i>PAOCC spokesperson Winston Casio said in a press conference.</i></p>

“[We] cannot discount his possible involvement in all of these matters. I do not believe in coincidences anymore in terms of Harry Roque,” PAOCC spokesperson Winston Casio said in a press conference.

PAOCC: Harry Roque’s ‘footprint is everywhere’ in POGO probes

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PAOCC: Harry Roque’s ‘footprint is everywhere’ in POGO probes

Katrina Domingo,

ABS-CBN News

Published August 24, 2024 04:01 PM PHT

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Updated August 24, 2024 04:44 PM PHT

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Harry Roque

POGO

Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator

Lucky South 99

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