INQToday: Harry Roque applies for asylum in the Netherlands
House lawmakers on Thursday called on the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to collaborate with Dutch authorities to block former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque’s asylum request and force him to come home to face allegations linking him to illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogo).
The Makabayan bloc, composed of ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro, Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas, and Kabataan Rep. Raoul Manuel, condemned Roque’s “shameless attempt to escape accountability” by seeking asylum in the Netherlands, noting that he had no role in former President Rodrigo Duterte’s trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
A Timorese court has rejected the Philippine government’s bid to extradite expelled lawmaker Arnolfo Teves Jr.—a ruling that the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday described as “peculiar and legally improbable.”
In a March 20 decision written in Portuguese by Timor-Leste’s Court of Appeals, an English translation of which was provided by Teves’ lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, the plenary of judges “unanimously decided” to grant Teves’ appeal and “refuse the request for [his] extradition.”
Palace declares April 1 a regular holiday for Eid’l Fitr
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. has declared Tuesday, April 1, a regular holiday nationwide in observance of
This was confirmed by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin to reporters on Thursday.
