Senator Risa Hontiveros believes that former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque is challenging their own documents when he denied being legal counsel to Lucky South 99, Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) compound in Porac, Pampanga.
"Well, pinasisinungalingan ng organizational chart ng Lucky South 99 mismo na official attachment sa formal letter of application ng Lucky South 99 para sa POGO license (Well, the organizational chart of Lucky South 99 itself which is an official attachment to the formal letter of application for their POGO license says otherwise)," she said.
"Pinasisinungalingan yung sinabi ni dating Secretary Roque na abogado lang siya ng Whirlwind at yung inihahamon niya sa akin ngayon. Siya po yung nahahamon ng sarili nilang dokumento. Documentary evidence po yan (This contradicts former secretary Roque's claim that he was just a lawyer of Whirlwind and he's challenging me now. He is challenging their own documents. That's documentary evidence)," she added.
In a statement Roque released in relation to the Senate Women and Children’s panel on POGO-related crimes, he denied being legal counsel of Lucky South 99 and being legal counsel to any illegal POGO. He stated that he had no reason to deny this.
He mentioned that if Hontiveros' only basis is the organizational chart naming him as legal counsel of Lucky South 99, he challenges the senator to prove if he had a direct hand in preparing the said document.
It was in June 29 when the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) released a statement that a "former high-ranking government official tried to facilitate the grant of gaming licenses to some of the illegal POGOs that have been recently raided and found engaged in illegal activities."
During the hearing, Hontiveros raised the question of who this government official was.
In response to the question, Pagcor Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Alejandro TengcoT said that Roque called their office in July 2023.
According to Tengco, the former Cabinet secretary accompanied Katherine Cassandra Ong, Lucky South 99’s authorized representative to his office for a meeting.
Also present during the meeting was Pagcor Assistant Vice President for Offshore Gaming License Department Jessa Mariz Fernandez; she was among those subpoenaed by the Senate panel to attend the hearings.
According to Tengco, Ong sought the help of Pagcor with Lucky South’s arrears with the agency totaling $500,000 saying she entrusted their payments to Dennis Cunanan who, according to her, allegedly did not remit to Pagcor. He said Ong asked for some leeway to be allowed to pay in installments.
Roque refuted the claim that Ong represented herself as Lucky South’s representative, stating that both Tengco and Fernandez admitted that Dennis Cunanan was still the POGO’s official liaison to PAGCOR when Ong and Roque met with them on July 26, 2023. He said that this is a matter of record.
"I accompanied Ms. Ong in the meeting because I thought Lucky South--- Whirlwind’s principal---was a victim of estafa. By way of accommodation, I joined Ms. Ong since I was then persuading Whirlwind to invest in two energy projects of which I was the primary proponent," he added.
Eventually, Tengco said Lucky South 99 applied for a new license under Pagcor’s new guidelines in September 2023 and it was Roque who followed up with Fernandez’s office to check on the status of their application.
Lucky South 99’s application, however, was later on rejected by Pagcor.
Tengco said Roque did not contact his office but continually asked for the status of Luck South’s application with Fernandez who heads the licensing department.
Asked how many times Roque contacted her office, Fernandez told senators Roque followed up on Lucky South’s application six times—three of his calls were answered while two were not.
"Ginawa niya yun para sa Lucky South 99, hindi lang para sa Whirlwind," Hontiveros said.
Hontiveros added that Roque's involvement is not a question of irregularity but of truthfulness.
"Kasi sinasabi niya sa publiko, sa pamamagitan ninyo, sa media, na abogado lang daw siya ng whirlwind, yung may-ari ng lupa. Pero mismo ang organizational chart ng Lucky South 99 at mismo yung pagpulong niya kay PAGCOR Chair Tengco ay bilang abogado ng Lucky South 99 (Because he's telling the public, through the media, that he's only the legal counsel of Whirlwind, the land owner. But the organizational chart of Lucky South 99 and his meeting with Pagcor Chair Tengco was done as legal counsel of Lucky South 99)," Hontiveros said.
"And if he knew that he could do that (being Lucky South 99's legal counsel), bakit siya nagsinungaling (Why did he lie)?"