Harry Roque refused to cooperate with authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
The Philippines.- The House of Representatives (HOR) has instructed the Philippine National Police (PNP) to arrest the former presidential spokesperson\u00a0Harry Roque<\/strong> for defying a contempt order. The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) carried out searches at two addresses in Metro Manila but could not locate him. The order was issued at his office in Makati.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Roque was held in contempt and directed to be detained at the HOR building for failing to submit subpoenaed documents related to alleged links to offshore gaming operators. The requested documents include his Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth and records related to his family firm, Biancham Holdings, and a land transaction in Para\u00f1aque City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In July<\/a>,\u00a0Alejandro H. Tengco, chairman and CEO of\u00a0the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), told the Senate inquiry into illegal gambling operators that Roque and Cassandra Li Ong<\/a>, a representative of Lucky South 99, had visited his office to discuss unpaid arrears. Tengco said Roque never exerted pressure on PAGCOR and did not follow up on the matter, but Roque was listed as the legal head in an organisational chart submitted by the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Roque said at the time: “As stated by PAGCOR chairman Alejandro Tengco, 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. I want to make it clear that I did not authorise nor was I informed of my name being included in any submission by Lucky South to the PAGCOR regarding licence renewal.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Harry Roque refused to cooperate with authorities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":14456,"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 is being sought for arrest by the House of Representatives for defying a contempt order related to subpoenaed documents concerning alleged links to offshore gaming operators. The investigation involves his family firm and a land transaction, with PAGCOR's CEO having previously noted Roque's discussion of arrears for Lucky South 99, where he was listed as legal head.","focusai_entities":"Harry Roque, House of Representatives, Philippine National Police, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, Biancham Holdings, Alejandro H. Tengco, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation, Cassandra Li Ong, Lucky South 99, Whirlwind Corporation","focusai_location":"Philippines, Metro Manila, Makati, Para\u00f1aque City","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.8), payments_fraud_aml (0.8), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"PAGCOR Oversight Impact?","query":"What are the broader implications for PAGCOR's oversight capabilities and the future of POGO licensing in the Philippines given this high-profile enforcement action and alleged political links?"},{"label":"Market Stability & Investment?","query":"How might this investigation into alleged political links to offshore gaming operators impact foreign direct investment and the perceived regulatory stability of the Philippine iGaming market?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[439,16333],"tags":[20326],"class_list":["post-777019102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-illegal-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777019102","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=777019102"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777019102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777019122,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777019102\/revisions\/777019122"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777019102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777019102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777019102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}