Roque ‘likely’ took Alice Guo’s escape route -BI

Former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque “likely" took the same route that dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo used to escape the Philippines, Bureau of Immigration (BI) chief Joel Viado said on Tuesday.

Viado made the remark as he provided the Senate subcommittee on justice and human rights a report on Guo’s escape.

“Relating this to the incident involving former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, who was sighted in Tawi-Tawi at around 9:30AM on September 2 and it was verified and confirmed that he was not sighted within the town of Bongao after the initial sighting in the airport on September 2, that eventually on September 4, 2024, Atty. Roque arrived in the United Arab Emirates as confirmed by the Philippine Ambassador to the UAE,” Viado said.

“Since Mr. 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,” he added.

While the BI has yet to confirm Guo’s jump-off point in the Philippines, Viado concluded that POGO-backed individuals could easily escape the country due to its “porous borders.”

“In conclusion, 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 said.

“The POGOs have numerous unofficial ports of exit to choose from in order to whisk away or hide their 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 Atty. Roque to escape from,” he added.

New theory

Earlier this month, the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) bared its theory on how Guo could have fled the Philippines and ended up in Indonesia.

NICA Director Ferlu Silvio divulged their new theory that Guo and her supposed siblings exited through the so-called "backdoor" in the southern part of the Philippines, probably in the Tawi-Tawi area, going to Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia before proceeding to Kuala Lumpur where they started their journey to Batam, Indonesia.

Silvio also mentioned in the last hearing that Roque traveled from Zamboanga to Tawi-tawi in September last year.

"Our agency was able to monitor Harry Roque's travel from Zamboanga to Tawi-Tawi on September 2, 2024 at around 9:30 in the morning, taking PR2485. After po doon, titingnan natin from Tawi-Tawi wala na po kaming narinig (We were looking at Tawi-Tawi after that, but we did not hear anything)," Silvio said.

Last week, Roque resurfaced in The Hague, Netherlands after his former boss, ex-President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested and brought to the International Criminal Court.

Roque has been missing and was reported to have flown out of the Philippines after he was implicated in the operations of POGOs in the country, particularly his alleged involvement in Lucky South 99, the raided POGO firm in Porac, Pampanga.

Roque was also cited in contempt and ordered detained by the House Quad Committee (QuadComm) on Sept. 13 after he refused to submit documents that would supposedly explain his increased wealth. —VAL, GMA Integrated News