{"id":777017144,"date":"2024-07-11T05:42:40","date_gmt":"2024-07-11T08:42:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777017144"},"modified":"2026-04-22T08:17:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T11:17:37","slug":"former-philippine-presidential-spokesperson-denies-lobbying-for-raided-gaming-operator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/former-philippine-presidential-spokesperson-denies-lobbying-for-raided-gaming-operator","title":{"rendered":"Former Philippine presidential spokesperson denies lobbying for raided gaming operator"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Harry Roque says he was not involved in Lucky South 99’s reapplication for a licence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Philippines.- Former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque has refuted suggestions that he advocated for Lucky South 99, an operation in Porac, Pampanga, which was raided<\/a> for alleged human trafficking and other illegal activities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the Senate inquiry into illegal gambling operators, Alejandro H. Tengco, chairman and CEO of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), said Roque and Cassandra Li Ong, a representative of Lucky South 99, had visited his office on July 26, 2023 to discuss unpaid arrears amounting to US$500,000. Tengco said Roque never exerted pressure on PAGCOR and did not follow up on the matter. However, Roque was listed as the legal head in the organisational chart submitted for reapplication by the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roque said: “As stated by PAGCOR Chairman Alejandro Tengco in today’s Senate hearing, I requested a rescheduling of arrears payment for a lessee and principal of my client Whirlwind Corporation. My client provided services to Lucky South, which at that time held a valid licence from PAGCOR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I want to make it clear that I did not authorize nor was I informed of my name being included in any submission by Lucky South to the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) regarding licence renewal.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this month, PAGCOR’s chairman called for investigations<\/a> into the involvement of former officials and intermediaries in supporting questionable applicants for Philippine offshore gaming licences. He suggested a former cabinet official had played a key role in gaining a licence for one operator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See also: <\/strong>Philippine government still to decide on offshore gaming ban<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Harry Roque says he was not involved in Lucky South 99’s reapplication for a licence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":15051,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Former Philippine presidential spokesperson Harry Roque has denied advocating for Lucky South 99, a POGO raided for alleged human trafficking, despite being listed as its legal head in a reapplication. PAGCOR Chairman Alejandro Tengco confirmed Roque discussed US$500,000 in arrears for the operator but did not exert pressure. This incident highlights ongoing regulatory scrutiny and governance concerns within the Philippine offshore gaming sector.","focusai_entities":"Harry Roque, Lucky South 99, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), Alejandro H. Tengco, Cassandra Li Ong, Whirlwind Corporation","focusai_location":"Philippines, Porac, Pampanga","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.8), payments_fraud_aml (0.7), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"POGO Ban Impact","query":"What is the projected economic and operational impact on the Philippine iGaming sector, including B2B suppliers and the broader economy, if the government proceeds with a full POGO ban?"},{"label":"PAGCOR Governance Review","query":"What specific enhancements to PAGCOR's B2B\/B2C licensing and compliance frameworks are being considered to mitigate future instances of alleged political influence and illicit operator activities?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[439,158,16333],"tags":[405],"class_list":["post-777017144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-news","category-slider-home","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-pagcor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777017144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777017144"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777017144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777017175,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777017144\/revisions\/777017175"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777017144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777017144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777017144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}