The name of Harry Roque, a lawyer and former presidential spokesperson, keeps cropping up in the documents and testimonies related to the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), the spokesman of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) said on Saturday.
“I would like to give reference to a former Cabinet official. So, Atty. Roque is a former Cabinet official. So, given the benefit of the doubt in relation to what he is saying, but then again now that his name keeps on cropping up in the documents, in the digital footprint, in the testimonial footprint ,” PAOCC spokesperson Winston Casio said in the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City.
“We cannot discount his possible involvement in all of these matters,” he added.
“I don’t believe in coincidence anymore as far as Harry Roque is concerned,” the official said. “His footprint is everywhere. But of course you have to put one plus equals two to create a case, complete a case,” he added.
According to Casio, the PAOCC is currently investigating anybody whose name crops up in the investigation of POGOs.
POGO operations have been shut down and declared illegal in the country.
He revealed that some other names also showed up, including bureaucrats, tenured officers, and former government officials.
“But again, it’s one thing to investigate, it’s another thing to be able to build a case,” he said.
The PAOCC spokesman also declined to comment on whether Roque is the highest government official being probed.
He also declined to comment on what evidence the PAOCC has against Roque to build a case against the lawyer.
“Again, no comment as I will not give our aces before the public,” Casio said.
“Now, with regard to the cases, in all honesty, in all honesty of my part, on the commission’s part and in fairness to the part of the DOJ (Department of Justice), you need to take a look at the voluminous documents that we have submitted in our charges. Likewise, the voluminous documents, that counter affidavits of the other accused have submitted,” he said.
The official said, “haste results in waste,” so they do not want to rush their investigation.
“Again, we are not politically motivated. We are based on evidence. So, defer to their wisdom, in the time that they need to read through the evidence submitted by both parties and once they are finished going through the evidence, then I am confident that they would see the argument our way,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) may not have been alerted on the escape of dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo, who was also linked to POGOs.
“(H)indi ho talaga mati-trigger iyong alert bulletin namin ‘di ho ba? So, obviously, I will not put the blame in the DOJ,” Casio said.
He, however, believed that some people in the criminal justice system may have helped Guo escape from the Philippines undetected.
“We can only do so much… we can only do so much pero I will be honest with you, we’re doing our jobs – PAOCC, AFP (military), PNP (police) But, of course, I cannot say the same for everyone within the organization because we don’t live in a fantasy land kaya nga naglabas ng statement ang Presidente. Someone in the long chain of our criminal justice system may have helped these people to get out of the country that’s why heads will roll,” he said. *PND*
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