Barbers told Roque couple: Get your facts straight

Former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque and his wife, Mylah, should get their “facts straight,” said Surigao del Norte Rep. Ace Barbers in light of their allegations that he is spouting libelous remarks against them. 

In an interview on Monday, Barbers, the lead chairperson of the House quad comm probing the proliferation of the illegal activities of the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO), emphasized that he “never issued any libelous statement” against the couple.”

"They should get all the facts straight. I don’t know where they get all this information. They can review all the hearings even my interviews. It’s all posted on social media," Barbers dared.

"They were probably being fed the wrong information. So again, you check your facts."

The Barbers-led panel has issued a show-cause order against Mrs. Roque after she did not grant its invitation to attend the hearing last 19 September. 

In a letter, Mrs. Roque justified her absence, informing the committee that she is currently undergoing medical treatment in Singapore.

Mrs. Roque accused Barbers of "abusing his immunity from libel" by claiming that she is an incorporator of Lucky South 99 Corp., an illegal POGO firm in Porac, Pampanga, raided earlier this year over allegations of unlawful activities, such as torture and scam farms.

She alleged that the lawmaker has made those statements "when there is no single document linking me to it."

"I flew to Singapore for treatment but his malicious interpretation proves why his panel never accepted any of my medical certificates, not just from my long-time doctor but even hospital records," Mrs. Roque said in a Facebook post over the weekend.

Barbers, however, countered that the issuance of show-cause order was not done on his own volition and that it was a motion made by Abang Lingkod Partylist Rep. Stephen Paduano, a co-chair of the quad comm, who "asked for more details about her medical condition."

"Because apparently, what Mrs. Roque has submitted are just mere laboratory results from a certain Clinica Manila," he said.

“You know, I’m the chair of the committee and I would always rule on a motion being posed by a member, especially from a co-chair,” Barbers insisted.

Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop, quad comm's vice chief, warned Mrs. Roque of her possible arrest if she fails anew to comply with the show-cause order.

Acop said they would be compelled to cite Mrs. Roque in contempt--a similar action imposed against his husband, Harry, who is now the subject of a manhunt.

The Roque couple is being implicated in the POGO controversy following the panel's discovery that the bank documents seized from the raided Lucky South bear the name of the former spokesman.

In July, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission disclosed that Roque served as the Lucky South legal counsel.

He admitted that he escorted Cassandra Li Ong--Lucky South's authorized representative--to the Philippine Amusement Gaming Corporation to settle its unpaid taxes but denied that he was involved or lawyering for POGOs.

The panel, meanwhile, invited Mrs. Roque to shed light on her alleged involvement in signing a lease agreement with Chinese nationals allegedly linked to a POGO complex in Bamban, Tarlac as well as Biancham Holdings and Trading Inc.'s purported link to Lucky South.

Roque previously admitted that he and his wife were shareholders of Biancham--a family-owned company founded in 2014--both owning at least 49.9 percent of its shares.

Lawmakers suspect that the sudden increase in Roque's assets under Biancham from P125,300 in 2014 to P68,775,800 in 2018 was due to his purported connection with the POGO, which flourished during the Duterte administration.