Roque: I cannot come home, I have to defend my president

Former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque. Screen grab from Zoom.

MANILA, Philippines – Former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque announced that he cannot not return to the Philippines despite a pending legislative arrest warrant because he needs to defend former President Rodrigo Duterte at the International Criminal Court (ICC) over allegations of crimes against humanity.

“I cannot come home, I have to defend my president,” Roque, who is now in the Netherlands as part of Duterte’s defense team, said in a virtual press conference on Monday, March 18.

Roque made the response on the comment of Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Undersecretary Claire Castro that Duterte supporters should instead convince him to return home and face the warrant issued by the House of Representatives Quad Committee over his failure to submit documents justifying his alleged sudden increase of wealth.

Although not explicitly saying that he will not face the quad comm, Roque said he has a pending petition before the Supreme Court seeking to declare the investigation violative of the Constitution.

“Well nakabinbin po ang aking petisyon sa Korte Suprema para ideklara na labag sa Saligang Batas ang imbestigasyon na ginagawa nila at walang basehan ‘yung paghingi ng mga dokumentong hinihingi sa akin,” Roque said.

He also denounced being tagged as a “fugitive” even after being in hiding after being cited in contempt by the quad comm.

“Fake news po ‘yung sinasabi nilang pugante ako dahil ang pugante po ay tumatakas sa isang arrest warrant na inissue ng isang hukuman,” Roque said.

“Paulit-ulit ko naman pong sinasabi. Hindi ko po tinatakasan ‘yan. Inaasahan ko po na pagdedesisyon ang Korte Suprema at susunod tayo sa desisyon ng Korte Suprema,” he said.

He explained that the arrest order issued by the House was only to compel a resource person to be present and submit the required documents.

“Wala po akong ginawang krimen para maging basehan ng pag issue ng warrant of arrest ng lehislatura,” Roque said.

Roque seeks asylum in the Netherlands

Now that he showed up, any intent of the government to have him extradited would be futile soon as Roque’s application for asylum in the Netherlands gets approved.

“I am formally announcing that after our meeting today I am filing formally for asylum here in The Netherlands,” Roque said.

Roque said he is on his way to file for an application for asylum at the Immigration and Naturalisation Service, a Dutch government agency handling the admission of foreigners in the Netherlands. His application is set to justify his need to stay in the country on the business of defending the former president detained at The Hague.

“As soon as my application for asylum is received. I do have the rights for non-refoulement,” Roque said.

Non-refoulement is a principle under international human rights where a person would be protected against deportation until investigation concludes as well as non-prosecution for illegal entry which would not be a problem for Roque who entered the Netherlands on a valid visa.

Roque maintained that what is being done to him is simply political persecution so that the former president would lose representation to the ICC.

“I am confident that I can prove political persecution through unjust prosecution ng huwad committee,” he said.

Roque is one of the only five Filipinos accredited by the ICC.

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