Mylah Roque now out of PH —BI

Mylah Roque, wife of former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, has already left the Philippines. 

This was confirmed by the Bureau of Immigration (BI) Immigration spokesperson Dana Sandoval confirmed Tuesday amid an outstanding arrest order from the QuadComm for contempt after she failed to appear in the ongoing probe on crimes related to Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO).

Sandoval was asked to confirm whether Mylah left the country on September 3.

“Confirming this,” she said in a message to GMA News Online. 

Sandoval said an Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order (ILBO) was issued against Mylah on September 16. 

An ILBO instructs immigration officers to alert authorities should the subjects attempt to leave the country.

GMA News Online has reached out to Mylah Roque for comment but she has yet to reply as of posting time. 

QuadComm

Information about Roque's departure has already reached lawmakers.

"And [ang] alam namin, wala na siya sa bansa. And this action taken by her is an action of evading our invitation,” said House public order and safety chairperson and Laguna lawmaker Dan Fernandez.

“There was a report coming from the Immigration [bureau] that I think, September 5 pa ata umalis na siya. First week ata ng September, nakaalis na siya prior to the discussion about the requirements [of her needing to submit certain documents]. I believe that prior to that, nakaalis na po si Mylah Roque,” Fernandez added.

For her husband, the BI previously said that it has not monitored any recent travel from Harry Roque. 

Fernandez, however, maintained that the Roque couple cannot escape accountability.

“They might feel na lilipas din tong hearing, but hindi po ganoon na sitwasyon rito. We will try to push, pursue the invitation, because her testimony is very crucial given the amount of money that entered the account of Secretary Harry Roque and and being the wife, nakapirma siya sa SALN (Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth),” Fernandez said.

“We wanted to find out kung ‘yung amount na ‘yun...saan talaga ang galing; yung pera. Kasi if you will be trying to dig deeper on the property that was sold by the couple, ay hindi talagang natutugma ‘yung amount na ‘yun,” Fernandez added.

Roque has denied his role in illegal POGO operations, but has admitted to providing legal counsel to Whirlwind Corporation, the owner of the land where the raided POGO hub in Porac, Pampanga was located, an incident that uncovered apparent criminal activities such as torture and scam hubs.

It is the same Porac POGO hub that Lucky South 99 is located.

Roque's assets

The QuadComm is also investigating the Roque couple since the Roque family corporation’s assets increased from P125,000 before 2016 to as much as P125 million in 2018.

“If he (Roque) will not be able to prove the legal and valid source of this sudden increase of assets of his family-owned Biancham, then there is reasonable ground to believe that indeed he is connected with POGO operations, and this money possibly came from POGO operations,” Batangas Representative Gerville Luistro said.

A Chinese fugitive was also found in the property of PH 2 corporation, of which 52% is owned by the Roque family’s Biancham Corporation. —VAL, GMA Integrated News