“Do not lie.”
This was President Rodrigo Duterte’s instructions to former party-list lawmaker Harry Roque, who formally joined the Duterte administration as the new presidential spokesperson, the Manila Standard learned Friday.
Roque, a human rights lawyer is set to take his oath of office before Duterte on November 6. He was given a rank of Cabinet secretary.
Roque, who is the current House Deputy Minority Leader, had already spoken with House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez about his intention to resign as the Kabayan party-list representative, sources said.
Roque replaces Ernesto Abella, who had the rank of undersecretary.
Reports said the President was dissatisfied with how Abella responded to his threats to cut ties with the European Union.
Assistant to the presidential spokesperson, China Jocson, in a Palace briefing Friday, said Abella might not join Duterte’s working visit to Japan from Oct. 29 to 31 because he was busy with “more pressing matters.”
“It is not yet final whether he will go to Japan or not. He may or may not. But currently, he has to attend to more pressing matters,” she said.
“You may hear from him next week, he may still give briefings, if he is in town, if he doesn’t push through with the trip, he may still give briefings next week,” she added.
It was unclear how Roque’s appointment would affect the Presidential Communications Operations Office and its Content and Messaging division, in charge of crafting Malacañang’s communications strategy to the public.
There were pending moves to separate the PCOO, led by Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, from the Office of the Presidential Spokesperson.
As a lawyer, Roque, through advocacy group Center for International Law (CenterLaw), handled high-profile cases — including cases of families of the Maguindanao Massacre victims, slain transgender Jennifer Laude, and slain journalist and environmental activist Gerry Ortega.
