Quad comm orders arrest of Roque's wife

The House quad committee has issued an arrest order against Mylah Roque, the wife of former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, for repeatedly ignoring the committee's summons to attend the ongoing probe into the illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO), in which the couple is being implicated. 

Mrs. Roque failed to appear—for the third time—at the panel’s hearing on Friday, prompting Abang Lingkod Rep. Stephen Paduano, a co-chair of the committee, to move to her contempt citation.

Previously, the quad comm issued a subpoena ad testificandum against Mrs. Roque, which she has yet to comply with.

“With that, Mr. chairman since we have given Mrs. Roque the due process with regard to [her] supposedly presence in the hearing, I move to cite [her] in contempt,” appealed Paduano, which panel chair, Surigao del Norte Rep. Ace Barbers approved. 

Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop, panel vice chair, subsequently moved for her arrest, a similar order imposed against Mr. Roque, who is now the subject of a manhunt.

Mrs. Roque, a former Pag-IBIG Fund trustee, is being implicated in the POGO scandal for signing a lease agreement with Chinese nationals purportedly linked to a POGO complex in Bamban, Tarlac, and Biancham Holdings and Trading Inc.'s alleged link to Lucky South 99 Corp., another POGO hub in Porac, Pampanga.

The Chinese nationals were arrested during a raid in Benguet in July on a property owned by PH2, a subsidiary of the Roque family’s Biancham Holdings. 

Lucky South, meanwhile, was raided by authorities earlier this year for various criminal activities, including torture and scam, among others.

Its authorized representative, Cassandra Li Ong, has been at the center of House and Senate probes and is facing mounting criminal cases, including qualified human trafficking, a non-bailable offense.

Mrs. Roque had previously defied a show-cause order issued by the mega-panel against her earlier, citing her current medical condition.

Mrs. Roque cried foul over the committee’s supposed move to incriminate her in POGO “when there is no single document linking me to it.”

Mr. Roque, on the other hand, deemed the congressional inquiry “a political inquisition against the Duterte family and me as their outspoken ally.” 

Moreover, he called the quad comm a “kangaroo court,” engaged in “political harassment” and “power tripping.”

Roque previously admitted that he and his wife were shareholders of Biancham, 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.  

Roque also admitted that he escorted Ong—his client—to the Philippine Amusement Gaming Corporation to settle its unpaid taxes but denied that he was involved or lawyering for POGOs.