Roque named new Rody spokesman
President Duterte has appointed Harry Roque as presidential spokesman and the President’s first order to Roque is not to change his message.
Duterte confirmed Roque’s appointment during the dinner he tendered for Roque’s birthday on Friday night in Davao City.
Roque, who served as representative of Kabayan partylist, will be given a rank of secretary.
The President said Roque should be able to tell the Filipino people exactly what he wants to tell them.
“To get the message clear, I said, Harry will fit the – kasi medyo malikot ang bunganga
namin (because our language is colorful),” Duterte said during the birthday dinner for Roque at the Marina Tuna Seafood Restaurant in Davao City.
“He is no longer a congressman. He is now a secretary. To make his entrance dramatic,
he will be attending the first Cabinet meeting on Monday (Nov. 6),” he added.
Roque will be replacing Ernesto Abella, who always clarified the President’s controversial statements. Abella was reportedly offered a position in another government agency.
Abella has not yet issued a statement about Roque replacing him as presidential spokesman.
Roque, a human rights lawyer, has been supporting Duterte since the campaign for the 2016 presidential elections.
Roque told The STAR he is joining the President on a working visit today until Tuesday.
“I am ready for whatever I am tasked to do,” he added.
Roque hopes to tweak bloody drug war
While the President said he wants Roque to tell the people exactly what he wants to say, Roque indicated yesterday that he hoped to convince the President to tweak his bloody anti-drug war and change his views on human rights.
Roque explained he accepted Duterte’s offer “with the specific purpose of getting an audience with the President to address key human rights issues in the Philippines.”
“As a member of Congress, my voice is limited. Politicians who relentlessly criticize the administration are simply ignored and labeled as ‘destabilizers.’ By taking this position, I hope to be able to advise the President directly regarding the manner and methods he has used to tackle the problem of drugs. I have already expressed my willingness to serve as an adviser on the matter,” he said.
He said he remains an advocate of human rights and Duterte’s statements on human rights issues “are precisely what drew me towards the position of spokesperson.”
“Over the past two years, the administration has repeatedly clarified and reinterpreted the remarks of the President. More often than not, the media and the Filipino people have looked to the spokesperson to determine the true intention behind the President’s statements. Thus, the spokesperson plays a pivotal role in confirming the policy of the state,” he said.
“By taking up this position, I intend to refocus the attention of the people more towards the fundamental position of the state, and less towards the manner by which such has been declared. Similarly, I am committing to reduce, if not totally eradicate, the impact of statements which appear to support genocide or violations of fundamental human rights,” he added.
The former human rights lawyer pointed out that by agreeing to be the President’s spokesman, “I am not condoning the violence surrounding the government’s anti-drug campaign, nor do I intend to further the same.”
“Regardless of whether I am a member of Congress or of the President’s Cabinet, I continue to value the right to life and dignity of every person and do not support the arbitrary killing of any person by the state,” he added.
Roque freed from ‘masquerading’
Opposition congressmen and even Roque’s own party-list group Kabayan yesterday welcomed his departure from the House of Representatives, saying Roque is finally released from “masquerading” as a human rights defender.
“We wish Roque well in his job of justifying the unjustifiable and defending the indefensible pronouncements and policies of the President,” Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said.
“To be the communications czar of Duterte, one has to be an expert mortician undertaking the post-mortem embellishment of the President’s crude and unfounded pronouncements and policies, and must be able to subdue one’s conscience in order to emote platitudes,” he added.
He said Roque’s acceptance of Duterte’s offer “confirms his dubious role in defending the President’s wayward policies even as he is nominally a deputy minority leader of the House of Representatives.”
“Roque has minimized the grave import of the unabated extrajudicial killings related to the President’s deadly campaign against the drug menace; he voted for the confirmation of the declaration of martal law and its extension; and he did not vote against the reduction of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) budget to P1,000 and even called for a zero budget for the CHR,” Lagman bared.
Roque also “failed to criticize Duterte’s predisposition to authoritarian rule and intention to declare a revolutionary government and he advocated for the creation of a panel to investigate the ombudsman and recommend her impeachment for unwarranted and politically motivated reasons.
“The charade is now over as Roque is liberated and obligated to be the President’s official apologist,” he added.
Ifugao Rep. Teodoro Baguilat Jr. congratulated his colleagues on his new job.
“As a self-proclaimed human rights advocate, I wish him luck in defending the horrendous human rights record of this administration. The appointment also releases him from the challenge of masquerading as a minority leader,” he said.
Another opposition congressman, Tom Villarin of Akbayan, said Duterte and Roque “deserve each other – a principal who advocates mass murder and a lawyer who masquerades as a human rights defender.”
“It’s politically opportunistic for both as one faces imminent trial in the International Criminal Court and a UP law professor well-versed in international law that could defend him,” he said.
“On the flipside, an ambitious neophyte congressman eyeing a senatorial seat thus will be riding on the popularity of someone he will always be speaking about. Kudos to both!” he added.
Roque belongs to the group of Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez, a staunch ally of former president and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Suarez fought with the Lagman-Baguilat group for the minority leadership, with the Quezon lawmaker winning the fight.