Former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque now faces a qualified human trafficking complaint filed by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) and the Philippine National Police over his alleged involvement in illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs).
The complaint, submitted yesterday to the Department of Justice by the PAOCC and the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), ties Roque to the operations of Lucky South 99, a gaming establishment in Pampanga suspected of conducting unauthorized POGO activities.
“There’s a statement from the assistant vice president… (Jessa Fernandez) of PAGCOR saying that on July 26, 2023, Roque and Cassandra Ong showed up at their office for a meeting with PAGCOR,” District City Prosecutor Darwin Cañete said in an ambush interview.
“Atty. Fernandez also has a judicial affidavit stating that Atty. Roque made several follow-ups with her about the status of the application for the renewal of the online gambling license for Lucky South.,” he added.
Roque, a certain Ley Tan, and Mercedes Peralta Macabasa were added to the anti-trafficking complaints against Cassandra Li Ong.
Based on the allegations of the supplemental complaint affidavit, it has something to do with the active participation of Atty. Roque in the furtherance of the illegal activity of Lucy South 99,” Cañete said.
A supplemental complaint affidavit filed with the case also implicates two incorporators of Whirlwind Corporation, which has been linked to the POGO operation.
The complaint represents an escalation in the government’s crackdown on illegal POGOs and comes on the heels of separate graft charges filed earlier in October against suspended Porac Mayor Jaime Capil and other local officials, who allegedly enabled the POGO firm’s operations despite unresolved documentation issues.
Cañete said this was Roque’s opportunity to clear his name.
“For now, we cannot ignore the documentation, the testimony, and the other evidence that have been submitted for investigation. And this has been the conclusion of the investigation,” he said.
