Be man enough; talk to quad comm — Barbers

The House quad committee has castigated former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque for taking his tirades to social media rather than meeting with lawmakers and submitting the subpoenaed documents that would dismiss his alleged links with the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO).

In an interview on Friday, Surigao del Norte Rep. Ace Barbers, the panel chairperson, lamented that the committee would not take Roque’s verbal attacks lightly, especially now that the panel has established “overwhelming circumstantial evidence” that made him “material” to its ongoing POGO probe. 

“What’s difficult about Harry Roque is that he says a lot against us outside quad comm. Talk to quad comm and justify your refusal to submit documents face to face,” Barbers said in Filipino.

“In his pronouncements on social media, he is making a lot of tirades against quad comm. We will not take it sitting down,” he added.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, Roque called the quad comm a “kangaroo court,” which is aimed at “political harassment” and “power tripping.”

Roque said the contempt order against him is a "political inquisition against the Duterte family and me as their outspoken ally."

He even called the probe as “fishing expedition” aimed at “fabricating evidence to match their story.”

Roque’s remarks were in response to the quad comm’s contempt and detention order against him for refusing to submit key documents, including business records, tax returns, and Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs), which are subject to subpoena. 

The panel has required Roque to submit such records to justify the abrupt increase of his assets under Biancham Holdings and Trading Inc.—a family-owned company—which skyrocketed to P68,775,800 in 2018 from P125,300 in 2014 and P3,125,000 in 2015.

Roque had previously committed to providing the documents during his first appearance on 22 August at the panel's second probe into illegal POGOs, in which he is implicated. 

“Please be man enough and stand by what you promised to deliver to the panel,” Barbers stressed. 

The panel has questioned the significant increase in Roque's assets in Biancham during his tenure as Duterte's spokesperson, a role with a modest salary.

Roque previously explained that this was because their family sold 1.8 hectares of land in the Multinational Village in Paranaque for roughly P260 million. 

Lawmakers, however, suspect that the sudden increase in his assets’ worth was due to his purported connection with POGO, which flourished during the Duterte administration.  

Roque was implicated in the illegal POGO controversy after escorting Cassandra Li Ong, the authorized representative of Lucky South 99 and also the incorporator of the Whirlwind Corporation—to the Philippine Amusement Gaming Corporation to allow Lucky South to reschedule the payment of its unpaid taxes, which were projected to be at least $500,000.

Lucky South 99 is an illegal POGO firm in Porac, Pampanga, raided earlier this year over allegations of unlawful activities, such as torture and scam farms.