Tracker teams formed to find Roque —Marbil

The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Tuesday said it has mobilized special tracker teams to search for former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque amid his arrest orders from the House of Representatives.

“We have officially received the request from the House of Representatives, and the PNP is fully committed to executing this order while adhering to our core mandate,” said PNP chief Police General Rommel Marbil.

Marbil also vowed that these operations would be carried out with the highest level of professionalism and respect for due process. 

“Our fundamental duty is to respect the decisions of our democratic institutions and ensure human rights are protected throughout this process,” he added.

Roque was cited in contempt and ordered detained by four House of Representatives committees or “QuadComm” last September 13 after he refused to submit documents that would supposedly justify his increased wealth.

The QuadComm made the move after Roque initially agreed to submit documents that would explain the increase of his assets under his family’s Biancham Holdings and Trading from P125,000 in 2014, P3.125 million in 2015, and P67.7 million in 2018.

In response, Roque filed a motion to quash the subpoena duces tecum on the said documents.

"Itong hinihingi naming dokumento sayo ay may kaugnayan sa iyong alleged involment sa illegal POGO. magpakalalalaki ka, humarap ka rito sa amin hindi yung nakatalikod ka parati sa quad," Surigao del Sur Representatives Robert "Ace" Barbers, one of the panel chairpersons said in a report by Ian Cruz on "Saksi."

On Monday, Roque  accused Congress of “power tripping” following contempt and arrest orders issued against him due to his alleged link to illegaloperations of Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGO).

Roque, who was the spokesperson of the Duterte administration, maintained that he is not a fugitive.

“Hindi ako pugante dahil ako po ay lumabag sa batas. Pugante ako sa Kongreso lamang, wala po akong pakialam. Dahil ang tingin ko naman kung ay na-cite in contempt of Congress, ang Kongreso naman po ay cited in contempt of the people of the Philippines,” the lawyer said in a live video posted on Facebook.

(I am not a fugitive because I violated the law. It’s only Congress that considers me a fugitive, and I don’t care. The way I see it, if Congress cited me in contempt, I think Congress is cited in contempt by the people of the Philippines.)

“Hindi po tama yung ginagawa nila, pasigaw-sigaw, kapag ayaw ng sagot contempt kaagad. Nagpa-power tripping na po sila”, he said during the almost 14-minute long video.

(What they are doing is wrong, they keep on shouting, and they cite anyone in contempt if they don’t like their response. They are power tripping.) —VAL, GMA Integrated News