{"id":777026534,"date":"2025-05-16T10:34:34","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T13:34:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777026534"},"modified":"2026-04-21T22:53:57","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T01:53:57","slug":"philippine-regional-court-issues-arrest-warrant-against-former-presidential-spokesperson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-regional-court-issues-arrest-warrant-against-former-presidential-spokesperson","title":{"rendered":"Philippine regional court issues arrest warrant against former presidential spokesperson"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Harry Roque Jr. continues to protest his innocence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Philippines.- A regional trial court in Pampanga has issued arrest warrants against former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque Jr.<\/strong>\u00a0and Cassandra Ong<\/a>. They are accused of\u00a0alleged links to Lucky South 99<\/strong>, an offshore gaming operation that\u00a0was raided<\/a> in Porac.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Angeles RTC presiding judge Rene Reyes<\/strong> said sufficient grounds existed to move forward with charges under the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2022. Reyes said the offences charged are non-bailable.<\/p>\n\n\n

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

A week ago, the Department of Justice (DOJ)\u00a0<\/strong>filed cases for both qualified and standard human trafficking, alleging that Roque played a role as legal counsel to Whirlwind, the company that leased its property to Lucky South 99, and in the firm’s establishment and operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roque left the Philippines last September after being cited for contempt by the House of Representatives for failing to appear in hearings on offshore gaming operators. He is now seeking asylum in the Netherlands and claims the charges against him are \u201cpolitically motivated\u201d. 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\n\n\n

Senator Risa Hontiveros<\/strong> said: “Harry Roque must be compelled to return to the Philippines. If he doesn\u2019t, not only would he be evading an arrest order from Congress, he would also be defying a lawful order from a court. He’s a lawyer, so he knows that evading the law is wrong.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Harry Roque Jr. continues to protest his innocence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":17179,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Arrest warrants have been issued against former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. and Cassandra Ong in the Philippines, linked to alleged human trafficking at the offshore gaming operation Lucky South 99. Roque, who served as legal counsel for Whirlwind (lessor to Lucky South 99), is now seeking asylum in the Netherlands, claiming political motivation behind the non-bailable charges under the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2022.","focusai_entities":"Harry Roque Jr., Cassandra Ong, Lucky South 99, Angeles RTC, Rene Reyes, Department of Justice, Whirlwind, PAGCOR, Risa Hontiveros, House of Representatives","focusai_location":"Philippines, Pampanga, Porac, Netherlands","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 Sector Impact?","query":"What are the broader implications for the POGO sector's future in the Philippines, given these severe legal actions and the government's ongoing scrutiny?"},{"label":"PAGCOR Oversight Changes?","query":"How will this case influence PAGCOR's oversight and licensing frameworks for offshore gaming operations, particularly regarding due diligence and compliance enforcement?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[439,16333],"tags":[29,24716,128],"class_list":["post-777026534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-casino","tag-human-trafficking","tag-philippines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777026534","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=777026534"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777026534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777026542,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777026534\/revisions\/777026542"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777026534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777026534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777026534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}