House panel looking for Roque also puts pressure on his wife

FRIENDLIER TIMES AT BATASAN The Roques on the red carpet at the House of Representatives for the third State of the Nation Address of then President Rodrigo Duterte on July 23, 2018.

MANILA, Philippines — The House quad committee is not just going after former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque but is also applying pressure on his wife.

The four-panel body has issued a show-cause order to Mylah Roque, asking her to explain why she should not be cited for contempt for repeatedly ignoring invitations to appear in its ongoing inquiry into Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos).

During its sixth hearing on Thursday, the committee chair, Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, approved a motion from Abang Lingkod Rep. Joseph Paduano to seek an explanation from Mylah, a former trustee of the Home Development Mutual Fund, also known as Pag-Ibig Fund.

READ: Harry Roque’s wife slams Barbers, says no paper links her to Pogo

She was being asked to shed light on her role in signing a lease agreement with Chinese nationals linked to the Pogo complex in Bamban, Tarlac, which was raided in March for alleged human trafficking and cyberscam operations. The town’s now dismissed mayor, Alice Guo, has been accused of being a Chinese spy who had infiltrated the local government to be the gaming hub’s protector.

In July, these Chinese nationals were arrested during a raid on a property in Tuba, Benguet province, owned by PH2, a subsidiary of the Roque family’s Biancham Holdings.

The company had leased the property to Cambodian fugitive Sun Liming and his Chinese partner, Wang Keping, who were both accused of running financial scams preying on investors in China.

‘Power tripping’

Mylah has yet to attend the quad committee hearings despite repeated invitations. Her husband, meanwhile, has been ordered arrested by the panel also for nonappearance and failure to submit subpoenaed documents, including his tax records and statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).

With the Philippine National Police helping in the manhunt, Roque had issued statements saying he would never surrender and lambasted the House panel for “power tripping.”

The joint panel—composed of the committees on dangerous drugs, on public order and safety, on human rights and on public accounts—cited “overwhelming circumstantial evidence” linking Roque to Lucky South 99—another Pogo hub, located in Porac, Pampanga—that was raided by authorities in June.

‘An abusive individual’

On Saturday, Mylah issued a statement calling Barbers “an abusive individual … who abuses his immunity from libel with a claim that I am an incorporator of Lucky South 99.”

She said she had already explained to the committee that she could not attend because she flew to Singapore for medical treatment.

Sought for comment, Barbers reminded Mylah that only her husband was being questioned about his alleged connection to Lucky South 99 and that her name only cropped up in the investigation because she signed the lease agreement with a wanted Chinese IT expert who worked in the Porac-based Pogo.

He also clarified that it was not him but Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop and Abang Lingkod Rep. Joseph Paduano who had wanted medical records from her doctors as the documents she passed to the panel “were merely results from a certain diagnostic laboratory and did not clearly indicate details on the health issues she was facing.”

“If you and Mr. Roque really have nothing to hide, particularly his alleged links to an illegal Pogo, then you should both attend the quad com hearings, be transparent and open all your cards,” Barbers said.