{"id":777025875,"date":"2025-04-29T09:08:08","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T12:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777025875"},"modified":"2026-04-21T23:27:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T02:27:02","slug":"doj-confirms-human-trafficking-charges-against-former-philippine-presidential-spokesperson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/doj-confirms-human-trafficking-charges-against-former-philippine-presidential-spokesperson","title":{"rendered":"DOJ confirms human trafficking charges against former Philippine presidential spokesperson"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Harry Roque Jr. is accused of alleged links to offshore gaming operation Lucky South 99.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Philippines.- The Department of Justice (DOJ) <\/strong>has confirmed the filing of human trafficking charges against former presidential spokesperson\u00a0Harry Roque Jr.<\/strong> and others. They are accused of\u00a0alleged links to Lucky South 99<\/strong>, an offshore gaming operation that was raided<\/a>\u00a0in Porac, Pampanga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justice undersecretary Nicholas Ty<\/strong> said that there are over 40 people involved in the case, including Roque, Cassandra Ong<\/a>, Dennis Cunanan, and Duanren Wu. He says Roque admitted to being a lawyer for Whirlwind, the company that leased its property to Lucky South 99. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ty said: “Even if he claimed that he was only a lawyer for Whirlwind, he went to the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) to follow up on the application of Lucky South 99 for its gambling licence renewal. So, clearly he is involved in organising the illegal offshore gaming operator where the human trafficking occurred.”<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Harry
Former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque Jr.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The DOJ is waiting for arrest warrants to be issued. He said that those who are not in the country could be considered fugitives and that the DOJ will notify the government of the Netherlands, where Roque is seeking political asylum. The DOJ is also waiting for a court decision on whether to move cases to Pasig.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roque claims the charges against him are “politically motivated”. He previously said<\/a> there was no evidence of his involvement in human trafficking and that he broke no laws by accompanying Ong to a meeting with PAGCOR executives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Harry Roque Jr. is accused of alleged links to offshore gaming operation Lucky South 99.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":21187,"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 Jr. faces human trafficking charges linked to offshore gaming operator Lucky South 99, which was raided in Porac, Pampanga. The Department of Justice alleges Roque, despite claiming to be a lawyer for Lucky South 99's landlord, actively pursued the operator's gambling license renewal with PAGCOR, indicating deeper involvement. The DOJ is awaiting arrest warrants, with Roque reportedly seeking political asylum in the Netherlands.","focusai_entities":"Harry Roque Jr., Lucky South 99, Department of Justice (DOJ), Nicholas Ty, Cassandra Ong, Dennis Cunanan, Duanren Wu, Whirlwind, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR)","focusai_location":"Philippines, Porac, Pampanga, Pasig, Netherlands","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.85), payments_fraud_aml (0.8), investor_analyst (0.85), supplier_vendor (0.75), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"PAGCOR Oversight Impact","query":"What are the broader implications for PAGCOR's licensing integrity and oversight processes given the alleged involvement of a former high-ranking official in facilitating an illegal POGO, and how might this affect future B2B\/B2C licensing renewals?"},{"label":"Policy Shift Outlook","query":"How will this high-profile human trafficking case influence the Philippine government's policy stance and enforcement intensity towards the entire offshore gaming sector, including legitimate operators, and what are the potential capital markets implications?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[24628,154,158,16333],"tags":[29,23911,405],"class_list":["post-777025875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-highlight-of-the-week","category-legislation-news","category-slider-home","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-casino","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-pagcor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777025875","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=777025875"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777025875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777025890,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777025875\/revisions\/777025890"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777025875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777025875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777025875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}