Former Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque has urged a Pasig City Regional Trial Court (RTC) to reconsider its order canceling his Philippine passport, arguing that there was “no legal basis” to classify him as a fugitive.
In a motion for reconsideration filed on December 9, Roque maintained that his extended stay in Europe was lawful because he was exercising his right to seek asylum. He said the Pasig RTC Branch 157 “erred” when it broadened the definition of a fugitive beyond what the law allowed.
“There is no room for interpretation that disregarded the time element, i.e., after being charged in the Philippine court, and focusing only on the purported intention to avoid prosecution,” his appeal stated.
Roque argued that the New Philippine Passport Act clearly required proof that an individual had “fled” after charges were filed.
“What is material is the time of actual ‘fleeing’ or the time that the citizen used his passport to travel outside of the jurisdiction after being charged to avoid prosecution,” he said.
He stressed that he applied for asylum in the Netherlands on March 19, months before any complaint was filed, making his stay abroad legal and not an attempt to evade prosecution.
Because of this, he said he should not be penalized “through the cancellation of his passport for not returning to the Philippines.”
Roque, a former human rights lawyer, earlier faced an arrest order for alleged involvement in a human trafficking case tied to Lucky South 99, a POGO-linked scam hub raided last year in Porac, Pampanga.