A former Filipino citizen in Europe on Friday submitted a petition letter to the Director-General of the Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Services in the Netherlands to block former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque’s asylum application.
In an exclusive interview with Manila Standard, Joel Vega confirmed he forwarded the petition to the office of Director-General Rhodia Maas by postal mail at 4 p.m. (CET) or around 11 p.m. (Manila time).
“I hope that the DG of IND will consider petitions or reactions by Dutch citizens since the immigration policies now in the Netherlands are now a controversial issue,” said Vega, the signatory on behalf of the ad hoc group “Concerned Filipino Citizens.”
“My main reason in objecting to Roque’s asylum request is the glaring inconsistency with factual events. There are clear requirements that should be fulfilled for asylum and one of the most crucial is political persecution with real physical threat,” he added.
Vega said Roque’s “non-appearance in the Congressional hearings is certainly not political persecution but a barefaced evasion of Congressional inquiry.”
As such if Roque’s asylum plea is accepted, it will set a bad precedent that would be a trigger for the right-wing coalition party in the Dutch parliament to make more anti-immigration noise, the Manila-born turned Dutch national explained.
He also stressed the case of Roque is not similar to the case of Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison, claiming the former is “obviously doing it for personal advantage by hiding under the mantle of asylum processes.”
Vega, who is also the author of a poetry book “Leviathan Days” focused on Duterte’s drug war, said the petition was also sent digitally by email to the Dutch newspaper Volkskrant, while a longer and detailed petition is accessible on the website of Change.org.
In a separate interview, lawyer Dino De Leon said the letter “is a step towards the right direction.”
“Harry Roque’s attempt to escape accountability should never be countenanced. They are saying that the justice system in the Philippines is working, which is why the ICC cannot come in and assume jurisdiction over the thousands of murders that happened under the Duterte Administration,” De Leon told Manila Standard.
He also underscored Roque’s unwillingness to face justice in local courts.
De Leon, an alumnus of The Hague Academy of International Law, emphasized the opposition of the University of the Philippines to his appointment to the International Law Commission maintaining his “very poor track record of promoting, defending, and fulfilling human rights and the rule of law.”
Meanwhile, Manila Standard sought the comment of Roque at his last known Viber number, which responded with “wala yun (that’s nothing).”