Manhunt intensifies for another suspect in Philippines offshore gaming scandal

Harry Roque, ex-spokesman for former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte, has joined the list of influential people linked to crime-ridden Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGOs).

Like others on the list – including ex-Bamban mayor Alice Guo and industry kingpin Huang Zhiyang – Roque has gone into hiding.

The Philippines house of representatives’ quad committee has twice cited Roque for contempt. Now it is calling for his arrest. In a 17 September statement, the committee labelled him a “defiant fugitive from justice”.

Lawyer for criminal enterprise?

Roque was allegedly the “legal head” of the Lucky South 99 POGO in Pampanga, site of suspected crimes including online scams and human trafficking.

Authorities stormed the compound in June, following a tip to the Presidential Anti-Organised Crime Commission (PAOCC). During the raid, they seized cash, jewellery, illegal drugs and video footage of POGO workers suffering abuse inside the facility. They also discovered bank documents belonging to Roque.

At first, the documents did not seem incriminating, said PAOCC representative Winston Casio. Then Alejandro Tengco, chairman of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation, disclosed that Roque “had pressured Pagcor to grant licences to these scam farms”.

At that point, the paperwork “[took] on a different character”, Casio said.

Evidence against Roque “overwhelming”

Although Roque has dropped out of sight, he continues to communicate through social media. He has slammed the joint committee as a “kangaroo court” that is “power-tripping” in its pursuit of him.

Representative Robert Ace Barbers told the Philippines News Agency that Roque’s evasion only deepens the suspicions about him. He added that the evidence against Roque is “overwhelming”.

“Flight is often an indication of guilt,” Representative Dan Fernandez, chairman of the house committee on public order and safety said via the Philippines News Agency. “There’s an old saying – if you have nothing to hide, you hide nothing.”

Multiple agencies have joined the hunt for Roque, including the Philippines National Police, the National Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Immigration.

Meanwhile, “POGO mayor” Alice Guo, who fled the country in July, was arrested on 4 September in Indonesia and extradited to the Philippines. She faces charges of trafficking, graft, money laundering and tax evasion.

Guo associate Huang Zhiyang, so-called “boss of all bosses” of the offshore industry, is still on the run and is reportedly in Hong Kong. Senator Sherwin Gatchalian has pledged to involve Interpol to bring him back to the Philippines.

As for Roque, says Barbers, the onetime presidential mouthpiece “can run, but he cannot hide”.

Disturbingly, Philippine police are now looking at reports of four “mass graves” near the Lucky South POGO.