<\/p>\n
THE spokesman of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) on Saturday said the name of Harry Roque, a lawyer and former presidential spokesperson, keeps cropping up in the documents and testimonies related to the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs),<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI would like to give reference to a former Cabinet official. So, attorney Roque is a former Cabinet official. So, given the benefit of the doubt in relation to what he is saying, but then again now that his name keeps on cropping up in the documents, in the digital footprint, in the testimonial footprint ,\u201d PAOCC spokesperson Winston Casio said in the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe cannot discount his possible involvement in all of these matters,\u201d he added.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t believe in coincidence anymore as far as Harry Roque is concerned,\u201d the official said. \u201cHis footprint is everywhere. But of course you have to put one plus one equals two to create a case, complete a case,\u201d he added.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n According to Casio, the PAOCC is currently investigating anybody whose name crops up in the investigation of POGOs.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n POGO operations have been shut down and declared illegal in the country.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n He revealed that some other names also showed up, including bureaucrats, tenured officers, and former government officials.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cBut again, it\u2019s one thing to investigate, it\u2019s another thing to be able to build a case,\u201d he said.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The PAOCC spokesman also declined to comment on whether Roque is the highest government official being probed.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n He also declined to comment on what evidence the PAOCC has against Roque to build a case against the lawyer.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cAgain, no comment as I will not give our aces before the public,\u201d Casio said.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cNow, with regard to the cases, in all honesty, in all honesty of my part, on the commission\u2019s part and in fairness to the part of the DOJ (Department of Justice), you need to take a look at the voluminous documents that we have submitted in our charges. Likewise, the voluminous documents, that counter affidavits of the other accused have submitted,\u201d he said.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The official said, \u201chaste results in waste,\u201d so they do not want to rush their investigation.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cAgain, we are not politically-motivated. We are based on evidence. So, defer to their wisdom, in the time that they need to read through the evidence submitted by both parties and once they are finished going through the evidence, then I am confident that they would see the argument our way,\u201d he said.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) may not have been alerted on the escape of dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo, who was also linked to POGOs.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cHindi ho talaga mati-trigger iyong alert bulletin namin \u2018di ho ba? So, obviously, I will not put the blame in the DOJ,\u201d Casio said.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n He, however, believed that some people in the criminal justice system may have helped Guo escape from the Philippines undetected.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe can only do so much\u2026 we can only do so much pero I will be honest with you, we\u2019re doing our jobs \u2013 PAOCC, AFP (military), PNP (police) But, of course, I cannot say the same for everyone within the organization because we don\u2019t live in a fantasy land kaya nga naglabas ng statement ang Presidente. Someone in the long chain of our criminal justice system may have helped these people to get out of the country that\u2019s why heads will roll,\u201d he said.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" THE spokesman of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) on Saturday said the name of Harry Roque, a lawyer and former presidential spokesperson, keeps cropping<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8065"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8065"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8065\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8066,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8065\/revisions\/8066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}