Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) chairman and chief executive officer Alejandro Tengco on Wednesday named former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque as the ex-Cabinet member who lobbied for the grant of license to recently raided Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) hub in Pampanga.

During the resumption of the Senate panel on Women’s investigation into the raided POGO hubs in the country, Tengco detailed how Roque allegedly liaised on behalf of the Lucky South 99, a POGO hub in Porac, Pampanga.

According to the Pagcor chief, his office received a call from Roque “sometime in July 2023,” asking for an appointment with him.

In the same month, Tengco said Roque, accompanied by Katherine Cassandra Li Ong, met with him together with PAGCOR Offshore Gaming Licensing Department head Jessa Fernandez in their Pagcor office in Malate, Manila.

"In his (Roque) introduction to us, Ms. Cassandra Li Ong is facing a problem related to paying all the bills of the company she represents to Pagcor,” Tengco said.

Ong is the authorized representative of Lucky South 99.

During his meeting with Roque and Ong, the latter allegedly requested to give the POGO firm a chance to pay its arrears for six months amounting to more than US$500,000.

“I asked them, what is your purpose here? First, they are requesting if it would be possible to be given the chance to pay their arrears… Besides that, they are also asking because we changed the rules and structure last July, and their license and registration given to them last October 2023 will expire. Since we have issued new policies and guidelines, they want to submit a reapplication,” he said.

Ong said the POGO firm religiously complied with their monthly payments to Pagcor through Dennis Cunanan, head of the defunct Technology Resource Center, the official representative of the firm in Pagcor.

The payments, however, were never made to Pagcor; hence, they were “shocked” when they received a letter notifying them about their arrears for six months.

Tengco clarified that Roque, despite being present at the meeting, “did not pressure” him to grant the POGO firm’s request.

“He was only asking if we could help Cassandra Ong,” he said when asked by Senator Risa Hontiveros if Roque followed up on their request after the meeting, to which he responded negatively.

Meanwhile, Fernandez said Roque contacted her six times to follow up on the reapplication of Lucky South 99’s license.

“In my tracking, he called five times. He was just asking about the lacking documents that still needed to be complied with, so I sent him a list and he replied with thanks,” she said.

“Then, once, he sent a message informing me that they had retained a lawyer for the AMLAC filing and that it would be filed in three weeks at the latest,” she added.

Fernandez also affirmed that Roque “did not force” her to approve the reapplication of the POGO firm.

‘Never a legal counsel’

DAILY TRIBUNE sought Roque’s comment on Tengco’s revelation during the Senate hearing through a text message, but he referred the paper to his post on Facebook for his official statement.

In his Facebook post, Roque denied that he served as a legal counsel for the Lucky South 99 in Porac, Pampanga.

“I am not and have never been a legal counsel to any illegal POGO. neither was I counsel to Lucky South 99, incorporated. I also did not participate in preparing Lucky South’s organizational chart, which identified me as their legal counsel,” he said.

Likewise, former president Rodrigo Duterte’s mouthpiece also denied media reports that Tengco allegedly said that he represented an illegal POGO.

“As clearly stated by PAGCOR Chairman Alejandro Tengco in today’s Senate hearing, I requested a rescheduling of arrears payment of a lessee and principal of my client Whirlwind Corporation. My client is a service provider to Lucky South, then a holder of a valid license from PAGCOR,” he said.

“Furthermore, Senator Risa Hontiveros’ conclusion that I lied when I claimed in the media that I am Whirlwind’s counsel is bereft of merit. I clarify that I did not consent to nor was I informed of my name's inclusion in any submission by Lucky South with the PAGCOR concerning license renewal,” he added.

He continued: “If her only basis is the organizational chart naming me as legal counsel of Lucky South 99, then I challenge her to prove that I had a direct hand in preparing the said document. No such evidence exists.”

Roque previously served as legal counsel for Whirlwind Corp., the company leasing its land to Lucky South 99, which was raided by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission last month.

Regarding the allegation that Cassandra Ong represented herself as Lucky South’s representative, the former Cabinet official said he would have to “beg to differ.”

“Both Chairman Tengco and Atty. Jezza Fernandez admitted that Dennis Cunanan was still the POGO’s official liaison to PAGCOR when Ms. Ong and I met with them on July 26, 2023. That is a matter of record,” he said.

“I accompanied Ms. Ong in the meeting because I thought Lucky South--- Whirlwind’s principal---was a victim of estafa. By way of accommodation, I joined Ms. Ong since I was then persuading Whirlwind to invest in two energy projects of which I was the primary proponent,” he added.

He continued: “In September 2023, I confirmed later that Ms. Ong is the Whirlwind’s Corporate Secretary. After we were formally retained to represent the Company in an ejectment case in September 2023, Ms. Ong signed the pleadings in that case in this capacity. The case remains pending in the Court of Appeals and the Municipal Trial Court of Porac.”

Roque said Whirlwind “recently retained my firm to quash a search warrant in a residential dwelling in Porac mistakenly described as a ‘resort’ by police authorities.”

“I have no reason to deny my legal engagement with Lucky South if there is truth to it. Providing legal representation is why the legal profession exists. But the reality is that an attorney-client relationship is of the highest fiduciary relationship and cannot be presumed unless there is a clear retainer between counsel and client,” he said.

“As a lawyer, I could not directly engage with the POGO because of a potential conflict of interest and given the soured lease contract between Whirlwind and Lucky South,” he added.