Roque says he speaks Duterte’s thoughts, no personal opinions

March 19, 2018

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque admitted on Monday he lost his personal opinions on pressing issues as he has to speak the thoughts of President Rodrigo Duterte.

This was his message to his bashers who have been criticizing him for changing his stance, such as on the Philippine membership with the International Criminal Court and the provisional admission of suspected pork barrel mastermind Janet Lim Napoles into the Witness Protection Program.

"May I take this opportunity to my bashers. Number one, your bashing will not affect me. Number two, those opinions of mine which you have been quoting me, I stand by my personal opinions, but when I became Presidential Spokesperson, I lost my personal opinions," he said.

"I can only speak the thoughts of the president. That is the nature of my job," he added.

When the Philippines acceded to the Rome Statute of the ICC in 2011, Roque hailed the government's move. He was one of those who pushed for the Philippines' ratification of the Statute.

But he is now being criticized for his strong statements against the ICC after Duterte decided to withdraw from the Statute.

The ICC prosecutor is conducting a preliminary examination of the complaint filed against Duterte for allegedly committing crimes against humanity due to his allegedly bloody war on drugs.

As to the case of Napoles, in his April 2014 Facebook post, Roque called as "Senatongs and Tongressmen" the lawmakers if the businesswoman would become a state witness.

Napoles is facing strings of charges, including the non-bailable offense of plunder, for allegedly masterminding the misuse of multi-billion Priority Development Assistance Fund in the previous years.

"As I said, all those written in my blog, and this is a 2014 blog, are my personal opinion. I cease to have a personal opinion as of November 7, 2017 when I took my oath as Presidential Spokesperson. As of the date of my oath, I can only speak the thoughts of the President. My personal opinions have become irrelevant for now," Roque said.

Napoles is under provisional admission into the WPP of the Department of Justice. Celerina Monte/DMS