When Harry met Rody
THE last time I met former Rep. Harry Roque was weeks ago at the TV5 studios in Mandaluyong City for the taping of the political debate show Manindigan.
Roque led SBMA director Benny Antiporda and columnist Jojo Robles in defending President Duterte’s flagging trust ratings. Former Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares, Atty. Jesus Falcis, and myself took the opposite side.
Was Roque’s stint there a part of his training for what is now his new post as Duterte’s spokesman?
By the way, it was interesting to note that the “highly important” RJ Nieto joined them at their prep room, and asked for a prominent seat in the pro-Duterte side of the audience. Was he there to train Roque in the nittygritty of defending Duterte? I’m not sure. But if that’s the case, it is a fall from grace for a lawyer known here and abroad for his commitment to the cause of human rights.
Newly minted Secretary Roque takes to the rostrum of the Palace briefing room with an odd mix of experience in human rights-related litigation, and of a motherlode of misinformation and disinformation long peddled and repeated ad nauseam by Duterte apologists. Would his human rights background influence Duterteera discourse, or would he be wittingly or unwittingly swallowed whole by Duterte’s rising tyranny.
Roque’s initial statement is unsurprising and — frankly — quite boring. Among them, a promise to throw “hollow blocks” at “critics.” It doesn’t match Duterte’s loud and foul mouth.
At the Manindigan debate, Roque gave us a preview of how he would defend Duterte’s human rights record. He alternated between claiming Duterte was concerned about the victims of extrajudicial killings, saying there are no extrajudicial killings, and, charging that extrajudicial killings have been a mainstay in the Philippines since the Marcos regime — sometimes in one breath. He also claimed, without providing proof, that cops found to have extrajudicially killed citizens have been put to jail. He also said that martial law is still needed because an armed rebellion needs to be quelled, referring directly to the New People’s Army.
Would Roque be a team player at the Palace, and work harmoniously with the likes of Salvador Panelo, Martin Andanar, Mocha Uson, Lorraine Badoy, and Nieto? Would he take over the administration’s overall messaging as spokesman? Or would the “more senior” folks direct him?
What is not being reported now is why Undersecretary Ernesto Abella was booted out to pave the way for Roque. Did he resign? Also: Who are the other aspirants that Roque — who professed loyalty to Vice President Jojo Binay in the last elections — leaped over en route to the Palace rostrum? Is Roque’s appointment a sign of a thawing of the cold war between Duterte and Binay? And may we further ask: No Mindanaoans available or capable of being Duterte’s spokesman?
I’m pretty sure that journalists covering Malacañang won’t be intimidated by Roque. He may surprise them, but it would certainly be hard to top his principal.
In his first week since being appointed Duterte’s spokesman, Roque was put on notice twice by companeros: First by his erstwhile law firm that vowed to carry on competent service to victims of human rights violations. And second, by the newly formed Manlaban group of lawyers against extrajudicial killings.
Some years back, then UP law professor Roque opened the doors of his Quezon City home to UP students after the UP administration threw them out of their dormitories. I thought, here’s a compassionate and generous man.
This year, he joins the administration of a President whose tyranny rises from the bodies of thousands of victims of extrajudicial killings, including many young people and at least one former UP student. In a parallel universe, Roque would be lawyering for that former UP student’s survivors, prosecuting his killers, and lambasting the state that fails to uphold due process and all human rights.
Roque is not the chief Presidential legal counsel, but as spokesman he would have to defend the emerging tyrant in the court of public opinion, locally and abroad.
(Announcement: The Movement Against Tyranny is inviting everyone to support and join the “Lord, Heal our Land” Sunday mass on Nov. 5, 3:00 p.m. at the EDSA Shrine. It is organized by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines. The Movement will participate in this activity as we push forward the calls to stop the killings and to fight rising tyranny. Follow/like @TheMovementPHL on Twitter and on Facebook for more information.)