FILE PHOTO: Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Ace Barbers rejects the statement of Harry Roque’s wife, Mylah, that he is an abusive person.. INQUIRER FILES
MANILA, Philippines — Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Ace Barbers rejected the statement of Harry Roque’s wife, Mylah, that he is an abusive person.
He also clarified that it was former presidential spokesman Roque who was being linked to the raided Pampanga-based Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) and not her.
“I would like to vehemently deny Mrs. Mylah Roque’s claim that I am an abusive individual who abuses my immunity from libel during the Quadcom hearings,” Barbers said in a statement Saturday.
“As to her claim that I linked her name as one of the incorporators of the beleaguered illegal POGO operator Lucky South 99, I think that only her husband, Harry Roque, had been linked to said gambling firm. Not Mrs. Mylah Roque,” he added.
READ: Harry Roque on the run: PNP joins the hunt
Roque’s wife broke her silence via Facebook on Saturday amid ongoing investigations on Pogo, which saw the ex-spokesman of former President Rodrigo Duterte being embroiled in the controversy.
Mylah, in her social media post, called Barbers an “abusive individual” for claiming that she is an incorporator of Lucky South 99.
She also said there was no document linking her to the Pogo, which was raided in June over reported illegal activities.
READ: Harry Roque’s wife slams Barbers, says no paper links her to Pogo
“Ace Barbers is an abusive individual. He abuses his immunity from libel with a claim that I am an incorporator of Lucky South even when there is no single document linking me to it,” Mylah wrote on Facebook.
But Barbers, who presides over the House quad committee hearings on Pogo, explained that Mylah’s name surfaced during the inquiry when her signature was found on a lease agreement with Chinese fugitive Sun Liming, who reportedly has fraud cases in China and ties with Pogo.
Last July, Liming and a Chinese woman named Wang Keping were arrested in a house in Tuba, Benguet. This house belonged to PH2 Corp., which is owned by Biancham Holdings and Trading Inc. Harry Roque previously said he partly owned the house and that he and his wife Mylah were shareholders of Biancham.
Barbers earlier stressed the importance of investigating Biancham Holdings, especially its alleged links to Lucky South 99. Eventually, the House quad panel issued a show cause order against Mylah Roque in a bid to compel her to appear in its hearings.
In the same Facebook post, Mylah disclosed that she flew to Singapore “for treatment” but Barber’s “malicious interpretation proves why his panel never accepted any of my medical certificates, not just from my long-time doctor but even hospital records.”
Barbers countered this by saying that the medical documents that Mylah submitted “were mere results from a certain Diagnostic Laboratory and did not clearly indicate details on the health issues she is facing.”
The lawmaker likewise said that Harry Roque should not blame the quad committee after the former presidential spokesperson claimed it was destroying his family. Mylah, in her social media post, claimed Barbers declared her family as “ruined.”
“As to her claim that I declared her family as ‘wazak’, I think I would be the last person to say that. Mr. Roque’s close executive assistant, AR dela Serna’s disclosure and admission during the hearings that they are maintaining a ‘joint bank account’ worth P3 million could have adversely affected or damaged his reputation,” Barbers said.
Barbers nevertheless urged the Roque couple to attend the quad committee hearings if they are indeed not involved with Pogos.