Metro Manila, Philippines — Former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque’s name keeps appearing in documents and testimonies related to Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), an official of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) said.
“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 his name keeps on cropping up in the documents, in the digital footprint, in the testimonial footprint,” PAOCC spokesperson Winston Casio told a forum on Saturday, Aug. 24.
Casio said the commission cannot discount Roque’s possible involvement in POGO matters.
“I don’t believe in coincidence anymore as far as Harry Roque is concerned,” Casio also said. “His footprint is everywhere. But of course you have to put one plus one equals two to create a case, complete a case.”
Roque has been implicated in the illegal operations of Lucky South 99, the raided POGO hub in Porac, Pampanga, as he supposedly assisted the firm in obtaining a license.
He has repeatedly denied he “lawyered” for Lucky South 99.
Casio said the investigation of prosecutors into Lucky South 99 is ongoing, and Roque was included as a person of interest. “Nothing personal, we’re just guided by evidence,” he added.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. declared in his third State of the Nation Address in July that “all POGOs are banned.”
Casio said the PAOCC is probing anybody whose names surface in the investigation of POGOs.
He said there were other names that have showed up, including “bureaucrats, tenured officers, and former government officials.” He declined to comment if Roque was the highest government official being probed.
Marcos’ pronouncement came as a Senate committee investigation revealed inner workings of Lucky South 99 and another illegal POGO hub in Bamban, Tarlac, where now-dismissed town mayor Alice Guo was also linked.
The House of Representatives has also conducted its own inquiry into POGOs.
A House “quad-committee” recently cited Roque in contempt for lying about his absence in an Aug. 16 hearing.
