Harry Roque likely took same escape route as Alice Guo—BI
The Bureau of Immigration believed that former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque may have used the same escape route as dismissed Bamban mayor Alice Guo when he left the Philippines last year.
In a hearing conducted by the Senate subcommittee on justice and human rights, BI Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado said that Roque may have also followed the same path as Guo and used Tawi-Tawi as his route to escape the Philippines as he was sighted in the area on Sept. 2 at around 9:30 a.m.
He then arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Sept. 4, as confirmed by the Philippine Ambassador to the UAE Alfonso Ferdinand Ver.
"Since attorney Roque has no recorded departure in the BI's records, he likely took the same route as Alice Guo in leaving the country by using a backdoor exit in Tawi-Tawi," Viado said.
He assured that the BI is continuously communicating with the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency to determine the exact escape route of Guo.
"Any powerful individual backed by the POGOs or have access to funding and resources such as the POGOs can easily sneak out of our borders and enter other neighboring countries," Viado stressed.
"The POGOs have numerous unofficial ports of exits to choose from in order to whisk away or hide our bosses or their criminal accomplices. This is why it has proven rather difficult for us to pinpoint the exact sea or airport that the POGOs used to allow Alice Guo or even attorney Roque to escape from. Although the odds are stacked against us, we will keep on trying to find how the POGOs were able to hide these undesirable aliens," he added.
Viado also discussed that Guo "most likely" escaped the Philippines through a backdoor exit by crossing from Tawi-Tawi to Sabah, Malaysia, which is a popular route used by undocumented travelers.
This was back when the Senate had ordered her arrest after she skipped hearings on the illegal POGO operations.
"The country has a porous border. With a coastline of 36,289 km, it is difficult to monitor the whole stretch," Viado said.
Citing a study from the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking, he noted how traffickers have been frequently observed to travel by sea via backdoor exits because of "strengthened implementation of anti-trafficking policies at airports and seaports."
He went on to admit that monitoring of private wharves or ports where BI is not present "remains a challenge."
"Moreover, the IACAT study pointed out that locals of the [Zamboanga, Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi] area have been known to travel to Sabah without undergoing passport clearance since they have been doing this since ancient times," Viado said.
'No proof' POGO paid a BI official
On claims that the POGOs paid an immigration official to help Roque or Guo escape, Viado said that "there is simply no proof" to that allegation. He implored individuals who have evidence of this to come forward.
NICA deputy director general Francisco Acedillo meanwhile added more to the BI’s theory of Guo's escape route.
"Guo escaped route via Tawi-tawi where she went possibly Tarlac to Batangas port by land, Batangas to Balabac in Palawan by air. Airstrip of Palawan to Tawi-tawi by sea from Tawi-tawi to Semporna or Lahad Datu in Sabah by sea. From Semporna, Guo traveled by air to Kuala Lumpur International Airport for her flight to Singapore," he said.
Another possible route that Guo took was by passing through Palawan to leave the country. From one of the port areas, she traveled to Sabah and then headed to Kota Kinabalu.
They also believe that she received assistance from a powerful syndicate that paid for her escape from the country.
"This operation involved bribery, corruption, forged documents and covert networks of syndicate…by Guo deliberately used misinformation to throw off government authorities," Acedillo said.
Roque is involved in the POGO issue that came after the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission found documents bearing his signature in their raid of the Pampanga hub in June.
However, Roque emphasized in a counter-affidavit that "there was no evidence" that he played a part in the illegal activities, and that the accusations were "part of the political harassment" that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had launched against "those identified with the camp of former President [Rodrigo] Duterte."
When the Senate started its hearings on this issue a few months back, Alejandro Tengco, chairman of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation, confirmed Roque's connection by revealing that he was the one who assisted Lucky South 99 in reapplying for a new license.
Roque is now looking to file a formal application to seek asylum in the Netherlands after he came to the country to serve as one of Duterte's legal counsels amid his crimes against humanity case before the International Criminal Court. (with reports from Cecille Suerte Felipe)
