During the Second Quad Committee hearing, Harry Roque stubbornly and disdainfully asserted that he had legitimately acquired the funds that Biancham Holdings and Trading, Inc. (“Biancham”) had reported in its Audited Financial Statements (“AFS”). He claimed that he had legitimately acquired the PhP67 Million from the sale of their family’s property in Multinational Village, Paranaque, and then reinvested this money into the Biancham’s subsidiary First Bataan Mariveles Holdings Corp. (“FBMHC”). Something doesn’t add up – his Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (“SALN”) indicates that he has PhP60 Million cash only, but he stated that he invested PhP90 Million in FBMHC. Where did the PhP30 Million come from?

When asked to submit his SALN, Income Tax Returns, and Deed of Sale, among others, he arrogantly declared that he would submit all documents requested and even do the Quad Committee a favor by giving more than what is required of him just to establish that he did not acquire his money from Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (“POGO”). However, despite earnest efforts and follow-ups from the Quad Committee, Harry Roque unsurprisingly failed to submit the documents that he volunteered and those required. He claimed that the documents were not relevant to the POGO investigations. He has something to hide.

Indeed, Harry Roque could give a thesaurus a run for its money by managing 100 different ways to say “I’m not contradicting myself” but never quite finding the one that means “consistent”.

But at least one thing is consistent. His actions are consistent with how his former master, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (“FPRRD”), operated. As the web of lies and labyrinth of crimes unraveled, the Quad Committee has managed to reveal that FPRRD and his cohorts have been disguising themselves as unsung heroes who are against corruption and illegal acts when they were the masterminds of these heinous crimes. When Harry Roque claimed that the records requested are private, it is reminiscent of FPRRD’s PhP2.5 Billion confidential funds in 2022 and Sara Duterte’s (or Baby Dutz’s) PhP112 Million confidential funds, which were claimed as a part of the Department of Education’s (“DEPED”) budget.

Surely, the Filipino people are aware of Sara Duterte’s “shininess” incident. When Baby Dutz repeatedly asserted her shiminet phrase, she refused to identify how the confidential funds were used by the DEPED even going so far as to give a very general itemization of how the confidential funds were spent. She even chose to forego defending the funds to be allocated to the Office of the Vice President.

Truly, there is no such thing as “transparency” regarding how the previous administration and FPRRD’s cohorts operated. Harry Roque, as the spokesperson of the former president, is at the core of it all.

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