Former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque (PPAB)

The Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives is asking the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to take action against former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque's request for asylum in the Netherlands. 

"We call on the [DFA] to coordinate with Dutch authorities to deny any asylum request from Roque and facilitate his return to the Philippines to face the charges against him," Makabayan said in a joint statement Thursday, March 20.

The militant faction in the House of Representatives is composed of ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro, Gabriela Party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas, and Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel. 

Roque grabbed headlines recently for appearing out of the blue at The Hague supposedly as part of former president Rodrigo Duterte's legal team in the latter's International Criminal Court (ICC) trial for his charge of crimes against humanity.

Vice President Sara Duterte has since said that Roque isn't part of her father's defense team.

The Makabayan solons said they strongly condemned Roque's "shameless attempt to escape accountability by seeking asylum in the Netherlands while having no legitimate role in the ICC proceedings against former president Rodrigo Duterte".

"This cowardly maneuver by a former human rights lawyer is a clear attempt to evade the warrant of arrest issued against him by the House of Representatives after being cited in contempt for failing to provide documents regarding his alleged involvement in the Lucky South 99 POGO in Porac, Pampanga," they said.

The trio was referring to Roque’s run-ins with House quad-committee (quad-comm), which last year issued an arrest order against him for his apparent refusal to attend its hearings. 

It was the quad-comm that made a connection between the controversial lawyer and illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO).

"The hypocrisy is astounding. Roque, who once defended human rights victims, later became the mouthpiece justifying the bloody drug war, and is now attempting to escape scrutiny for his alleged ties to illegal POGO operations," the Makabayan added.

"No amount of legal maneuvering should allow public officials to escape accountability for their actions," they further said.