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

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

“Confirming this,” Sandoval 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.

Department of Justice spokesperson Mico Clavano said that an ILBO may be issued for an individual on the basis of an ongoing investigation.

“An ILBO may be issued on the basis of an ongoing investigation. And that ongoing investigation is in the form of the QuadComm investigation on the matter,” Clavano said in a press briefing.

“On that basis, the QuadComm had requested the BI to issue an ILBO, which we complied with,” he added.

Clavano said authorities have no information on Mylah's current location.

GMA News Online has asked for her comment but she has yet to reply as of posting time. 

QuadComm

Information about Mylah'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 Santa Rosa, 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.

Meanwhile, the DOJ said there is no record that Harry Roque has left the country.

The BI previously said that it has not monitored any recent travel of Roque. 

An ILBO was issued against Harry on August 6.

Fernandez 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 [into] the property that was sold by the couple, ay hindi talagang natutugma ‘yung amount na ‘yun,” he added.

Roque has denied any involvement in illegal POGOs, but has admitted to providing legal services 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 where 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 PH2 Corporation, of which 52% is owned by the Roque family’s Biancham Corporation. —VAL/VBL, GMA Integrated News