Former Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque | PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – “Bring it on!”
This was former Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque’s response to the libel and cyber libel cases filed by former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV against him and other “pro-Duterte” personalities.
The separate complaints were filed against Roque, Sonshine Media Network International hosts and executives, a certain Guillermina Barrido, and vlogger Byron Cristobal, also known as Banat By, before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday.
READ: Trillanes files libel, cyberlibel raps against Duterte supporters
A separate complaint was also filed at the National Bureau of Investigation against six social media account owners.
“He who cannot fight in the free marketplace of ideas resort to the filing of libel cases! By filing these cases, he has proven himself to be an enemy of freedom of expression,” Roque said in a text message sent to INQUIRER.net.
“I’m hardly surprised, as he has opted in the past to use brute force in five-star luxury hotels rather than engage in democratic discourse,” he added.
Trillanes filed the complaint against Roque for alleging that he sold and gave away the Scarborough Shoal to China during his backchannel talks in 2012.
But Roque clapped back and said, “He [Trillanes] says he was defamed when his role as a backdoor negotiator with China resulted in our loss of Scarborough. But this is history. He was designated negotiator by then President Aquino. He undertook many clandestine trips and talks with Chinese authorities, and lo and behold, we lost our physical possession of Scarborough.”
READ: Roque says oust Marcos plot a ‘hallucination’
“He has never made public what in fact he negotiated with China. This is a fact. Then Senate President [Juan Ponce] Enrile threatened to expose his deeds. The latter desisted because of national security concerns,” he added.
Roque further stressed that Trillianes “seeks to rewrite history in his favor” and called the filing of the changes a “desperate attempt to seek attention for his next electoral campaign, which is clearly doomed.”
“Why? Because he has lost the trust of the Filipino people, including the undersigned,” he added.