Roque funds Mr. Supranational PH winner’s Europe trip, documents show

MANILA, Philippines — Former Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr. brought along Mister Supranational Philippines 2016 Alberto Rodulfo De La Serna as his “travel companion” when he visited three European countries in 2023, documents seized at a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) hub in Porac, Pampanga showed.

Based on the affidavit of support found by authorities during the raid, Roque detailed how he would be providing financial support to De La Serna during their trip to Poland, Ukraine and Italy from October 9 to 18, 2023.

“He will accompany me to these countries as an invited resource person to speak on an event on the Peace Process in Ukraine which will be Kiev, Ukraine to [be] held from 13-16 October, 2023,” Roque said in the document.

“I need a travel companion since I am diabetic, with coronary stent and suffering from acute spinal stenosis,” he said.

Roque, former spokesman of then president Rodrigo Duterte, said Dela Serna “will not become a financial burden” to any of the countries they will visit.

“In case of any unforeseen circumstances per emergencies during his time in Europe, I am committed to proviing financial assistance to ensure his well-being,” he said.

The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) recovered documents with Roque’s signature during a series of raids of a POGO hub in Porac, Pampanga last week.

An appointment paper also recovered by the PAOCC revealed that Roque hired De La Serna as an executive assistant III with a salary of over P54,000 effective Jan. 4 to Dec. 31, 2021.

De La Serna was a former male pageant contestant who first competed at the 2015 Misters of Filipinas pageant. He later went on to become the Philippines’ representative in the first-ever staging of the Mister Supranational competition in Poland in 2016.

Upon his win in 2016, De La Serna was the first Mister Supranational Philippines titleholder who competed at the inaugural Mister Supranational in Poland. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree from the Holy Name University in Tagbilaran City, Bohol.

Roque said that he was only a lawyer of the firm Whirlwind Corporation, which was leasing the compound to Lucky South 99, and said that he had nothing to do with the POGO.

Over the weekend, PAOCC spokesman Winston John Casio said that a letter bearing Roque’s name recovered during the raid in Porac, Pampanga was nothing suspicious.

“The document itself is innocent. The document is not of suspicious or criminal nature,” Casio said at the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City.

“If Mr. Roque was lawyering for Whirlwind Corporation, that in itself does not constitute any suspicious activity,” he said, adding that “there is nothing criminal if you are lawyering for the corporation.”

“Likewise, finding a document of his special assistant in one of the buildings does not also constitute suspicious activity,” Casio said.

The PAOCC official also said that Roque’s former executive assistant was not being investigated by the body.

“I don’t want to impute malice because it would be unfair to [former] Secretary Roque… There is nothing suspicious about it,” he said.

Below is a copy of the documents: