The Department of Justice (DOJ) said Wednesday it trusts Austria’s asylum process amid claims that the European nation would handle the protection request of former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque.
“We believe the relevant asylum authority in Austria will do the necessary research and validation of the information that Atty. Harry Roque will be giving them,” Chief State Counsel Dennis Chan said in an interview.
“We trust in their own process as we also believe that other countries will trust and respect the integrity of our own asylum process here in the Philippines,” he added.
Roque, who applied for asylum in the Netherlands, earlier said Dutch authorities told him it would be up to the Austrian government to grant him protection because it was Austria that issued his visa.
However, he said his trip to Vienna did not push through after his surgeons deemed him unfit to travel.
Chan said the DOJ cannot comment on or confirm this.
Citing the process in the Philippines, Chan said an applicant must be physically present in the country where he is seeking asylum. “So if Attorney Roque is asking for asylum in the Netherlands, then he should be in the Netherlands to process his application. If, based on his statement, the Austrian government will grant him asylum protection, then he should be in Austria,” Chan said.
“That is as far as we can answer because we cannot confirm or validate the information that the Dutch government was actually the one that booked the flight for him,” he added.
Chan also said asylum proceedings are confidential.
Even if Roque disclosed that he is seeking asylum, the Philippine government cannot reach out to Austria or the Netherlands to validate his claims.
Roque is facing charges for qualified human trafficking in connection with Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) Lucky South 99.
The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) has said the Philippine government has asked the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) to issue a red notice against him.
In a live Facebook video with vlogger Maharlika, Roque said he remains in the Netherlands after he was made to disembark from his flight to Vienna due to a medical certificate from his doctors stating he was unfit to fly.
He said Dutch authorities had earlier booked him on a flight to Austria so he could leave the Netherlands, where he first sought asylum.
Roque said this was because of the “Dublin rules,” which state that the country that issued his visa is responsible for processing his protection request. Because of this, the Netherlands determined that he should seek asylum in Austria.
Dutch authorities booked him on the Vienna flight, and he voluntarily went with them.
But once he was on board, the airline saw his medical passport and the certificate from his doctors saying he was unfit to fly, which delayed the flight.
The doctors issued the certificate after Roque underwent medical procedures in the Netherlands.
However, another doctor at the Netherlands immigration office cleared him for travel, which was why he boarded the plane, he said.
Roque said the captain asked if he agreed to the flight, and he replied that he thought he had no choice. When asked if he wanted to fly, he said he did not.
In the end, he was offloaded from the plane.
