The daughter of former presidential spokesman Harry Roque filed a petition for a writ of amparo against the House Quad Committee amid its probe on illegal POGOs.
The spokesman of former President Rodrigo Duterte is considered a central figure in the investigation and was declared by the House committee as a “fugitive” for not attending the latest hearings on his supposed involvement with the raided POGO hub Lucky South 99.
In the petition filed by Bianca Hacintha Roque before the Supreme Court, the Roque camp said the actions of the Quad Committee “were committed with grave abuse of discretion in exercising their legislative powers in an abusive manner.”
“Quad Com has wielded its contempt power capriciously and whimsically, meting punishment just because some of its members did not like the answer of the resource persons, or because the resource persons are invoking their constitutional rights.”
In a previous hearing, the committee issued an arrest order against Roque after citing him for contempt for failing to submit subpoenaed documents crucial to the investigation, including his tax records and Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN).
The mega panel cited “overwhelming circumstantial evidence” linking Roque to the raided POGO hub in Porac, Pampanga.
As this developed, Antipolo City Rep. Romeo Acop warned Roque’s wife, Mylah, that the committee would be forced to seek her arrest if she fails to comply with the show-cause order issued against her.
“She can attend and say that she refuses to answer because she will incriminate herself. But if she refuses to cooperate, that is one of the most serious offenses based on our rules and she can be cited in contempt for not respecting our invitation,” Acop said.
“If the Quad Committee schedules a hearing and she does not show up despite the invitation, we will issue an order to cite her in contempt,” he added.
Mrs. Roque did not attend the previous Quad Committee hearing on Sept. 19, informing the panel instead through letter that she was undergoing medical treatment in Singapore.
According to Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, Mrs. Roque’s name cropped up in the hearings because she was the one who signed the lease agreement to a wanted Chinese IT expert who has since gone into hiding after the raid in Porac.
The Roque family-owned Biancham Holdings and Trading Inc. leased their property to fugitive Cambodian Sun Liming and his Chinese partner, Wang Keping, both allegedly engaged in financial scams victimizing investors in China.
Barbers also noted that the medical documents Mrs. Roque submitted so far to the committee were “mere results from a certain diagnostic laboratory and did not clearly indicate details on the health issues she is facing.”
“As to her claim that I declared her family as ‘wasak (broken),’ I think I would be the last person to say that. Mr. Roque’s close executive assistant, AR dela Serna’s disclosure and admission during the hearings that they are maintaining a joint bank account worth P3 million could have adversely affected or damaged his reputation,” he said.
“Your husband Harry’s continued refusal to submit the vital documents he promised to provide the Quadcom only increased the lawmakers’ curiosity on the sudden increase of his wealth, from P125,000 in 2016, to P125 million in 2018,” Barbers added.
