Former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque l(Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)

Former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque was cited for contempt by the House quad-committee (quad-comm) on Thursday night Aug. 22 for lying to the special four-way joint panel. 

As penalty, Roque was ordered detained at the House of Representatives for 24 hours. 

Roque, a former Kabayan Party-list congressman, attended Thursday's quad-comm hearing at the House wherein he was grilled by solons about the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) controversy. 

Ironically, it was Roque's former Kabayaan co-nominee and student, Rep. Ron Salo, who moved for the contempt citation.

The latter said Roque lied to and insulted the quad-comm in connection with his failure to attend the quad-comm's previous hearing on Aug. 16, a Friday. 

Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, the lead chairman of the quad-comm, carried both the motion to contempt and the subsequent motion to penalize Roque after none of the congressmen objected.

Normally, a person cited for contempt is held by the House for a minimum of 10 days.

During interpellation, Salo called out Roque for supposedly being untruthful in his Aug. 13 letter wherein he told the quad committee that he will not be able to participate in the Aug 16 hearing due to a conflict with a previously scheduled court hearing before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Manila. 

Salo subsequently presented a certification from the RTC’s clerk of court, which confirmed that Roque had no scheduled hearings on Aug. 16. The certification indicated that Roque’s court appearance was actually on Aug. 15, contradicting his excuse. 

“I hate to say it but clearly Atty. Harry Roque, a former secretary and my former law professor, lied to this committee and that amounts to disrespect of the members of the committee which is contemptible,” Salo said.

Roque being escorted to his detention center after the hearing on Thursday night (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)

HAVE YOU READ THIS? 

https://mb.com.ph/2024/8/10/don-t-lie-to-congressmen-37-persons-cited-for-contempt-so-far-by-house-in-19th-congress

'Honest mistake'

The quad-comm did not immediately rule on the motion, opting first to hear comments from the joint panel. This gave Roque--a known ally of the Duterte family--a chance to explain what he described as an "honest mistake". 

According to the former Palace mouthpiece, he had assumed that the hearing date was on a Thursday, based on his previous experience as a congressman that "no hearings are held on Fridays". 

“I had no intention of disrespecting the committee. It was an honest mistake, and I apologize," said Roque, who noted that he realized too late on Aug. 16 that the hearing was being held in Bacolor, Pampanga. 

"The truth of the matter is I have been here on Thursdays, two hearings already and I just assumed that just like in the past, we don’t hold hearings on a Friday, that the hearing would be on a Thursday as in fact today is also a Thursday,” he added.

'Marami nang namamatay sa maling akala'

Antipolo City 2nd district Rep. Romeo Acop, a vice chairman of all four committees of the quad-comm, told Roque: “When you make a mistake, you should be ready to accept the consequences." 

When the lawyer insisted that he simply had a mix-up on the dates and asked for the solons' understanding, Acop said: "Marami nang namamatay sa maling akala (A lot of people have died because of wrong assumptions)." 

Barbers ultimately approved Salo's motion to cite Roque for contempt after none of the solons made a formal objection. 

Rather surprisingly, it was also Salo who moved to give Roque "the barest minimum—just one day or 24 hours" of detention at the House of Representatives. 

Salo said he did so "in consideration of the fact that the resource person...is my former law professor, fellow Kabayan Party-list representative...his claim of an honest mistake, and of course the apology that he has given to this committee". 

He also acknowledged that Roque was his godfather.