Lawyer Harry Roque at the Department of Justice in Manila on September 7, 2022. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News/File

MANILA — The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) can no longer discount the possibility that former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque is involved in the illegal gambling operations in Pampanga and Tarlac, the agency's spokesperson said on Saturday.

Roque's alleged ties to illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGO) first surfaced earlier this year when the PAOCC found his aide's appointment papers as Executive Assistant III under Roque's office dated Oct. 5, 2021 in a raid on the Lucky South 99 compound in Porac, Pampanga.

The raid also yielded an endorsement letter signed by Roque, saying that he would cover the cost of his aide's trips to Italy, Poland and Ukraine in October 2023.

The former Palace spokesperson was also the supposed head of the legal department of Lucky South 99 Outsourcing Inc, a syndicate which authorities said were disguising as a POGO, a document presented before the Senate showed.

"I would like to give deference to a former Cabinet official… We want to give him the benefit of the doubt," PAOCC spokesperson Winston Casio said in a press conference.

"But we cannot discount his possible involvement in all of these matters. I do not believe in coincidences anymore in terms of Harry Roque," he said.

Roque brushed off the PAOCC's comments, saying that he is just "waiting for their filing" of cases.

"No idea what their evidence is… Only acts I did are what I've said on the Senate and House hearings," Roque's statement read.

"They were acts of lawyering which cannot be deemed as criminal as there were no criminal acts done," he said.

"But as I've said, I'd like to see their complaint first as I am of the belief that they have absolutely no evidence of wrongdoing," he said.

READ: House panel cites Harry Roque in contempt for 'lying'

READ: Harry Roque decries Congress detention, says 'will not bow down to political pressure'

Roque earlier denied that he was an incorporator of Lucky South 99, and told lawmakers that he only represented Cassandra Ong in what he thought was an estafa case.

Ong, identified as a consultant and authorized representative of the POGO hub, has since been apprehended by authorities in Indonesia, where she fled to evade possible arrest.

Earlier this week, lawmakers cited Roque in contempt and ordered his 24-hour detention in the House of Representatives for allegedly lying about his failure to attend a previous congressional inquiry.

In a letter to the quad comm last August 13, Roque sought to be excused from the August 16 hearing, due to a "conflict with a previously scheduled court hearing before the Regional Trial Court of Manila," but the panel found that the former spokesperson did not appear before any Manila RTC branch on the said date.

Roque called the incident an "honest mistake," saying he had gotten the days of the hearings mixed up.

ROQUE ACCUSES HOUSE OF POLITICAL PERSECUTION

Roque — a supporter of the Dutertes — called the allegations against him political persecution.

He said that members of the House are trying to pin him down to link POGOs to former president Duterte, who is being blamed for the spread of POGOs.

"Bakit ako ang itinuturo? Hindi naman ako ang nakipag-buddy buddy sa mga POGO. Hindi naman ako ang humingi ng pera sa mga POGO. Hindi naman ako ang nakinabang sa mga POGO," he said.

(Why are they pointing at me? I did not play buddy buddy with the POGOs. I did not ask the POGOS for money. I did not benefit from them)

He also questioned his detention for failing to attend the House hearing, saying it was done to suppress critics of the government.

"Hindi po 'yan imbestigasyon laban sa POGO. 'Yan po ay imbestigasyon laban kay Harry Roque para mapatahimik si Harry Roque bilang boses ng Sambayanang Pilipino," he said.

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