A court in the Philippines orders the arrest of former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque and Filipino-Chinese businesswoman Cassandra Ong for qualified trafficking in persons.
Full story: https://www.rappler.com/philippines/arrest-warrant-harry-roque-cassandra-ong-porac-pogo/
Full story: https://www.rappler.com/philippines/arrest-warrant-harry-roque-cassandra-ong-porac-pogo/
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00:00A court in the Philippines ordered the arrest of former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque
00:06and Filipino-Chinese businesswoman Cassandra Ong for qualified trafficking in persons.
00:11Justice Undersecretary Nicholas Felix T., head of the Interagency Task Force Against Trafficking,
00:17confirms this to Rappler on Thursday, May 15.
00:20The charges stemmed from the raided Lucky South 99 Pogo in Porak, Pampanga.
00:24Prosecutors allege it operated a massive scam farm that trafficked workers.
00:29Roque earlier admitted to lawyering for the real estate firm Whirlwind in an ejectment case,
00:34which was accompanied at least to Lucky South 99.
00:37Although Roque also admitted to helping Ong arrange meetings with PagCorp to renew Lucky South's Pogo license,
00:43he maintained these acts did not amount to human trafficking.
00:46Roque is in The Hague applying for asylum.
00:48The Philippines and the Netherlands have no extradition treaty.
00:51In a statement he sent from The Hague when he was charged on April 28,
00:56Roque said, quote,
00:56There is no evidence that I recruited, transferred, transported or harbored Chinese or Filipino workers
01:02for forced labor and prostitution.