Have mercy on Harry

By Alex P. Vidal

“Teach me to feel another’s woe, to hide the fault I see, that mercy I to others show, that mercy show to me.” – Alexander Pope

IF it is true that former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque has serious medical issues, have mercy on him.

As a fugitive hiding in The Hague, Netherlands, it’s not easy to live alone away from his family and with a medical problem, especially now that the winter season is fast approaching.

One doesn’t need to be a doctor to notice in his social media videos that he appears to be not well; he used to be healthy and vibrant. It seems he has lost a tremendous amount of weight (is he starving?).

The 59-year-old Roque has been the object of jokes and ridicule in the social and mainstream media because of his demeanor and political leanings.

Some Filipinos have intense animus for people who are overweight and unsightly, especially if they are loud and boisterous.

If Roque did not actually kill a person, no reason to loathe him. If he did not steal from the taxpayers, no need to condemn him. If he did not torture or rape anybody, no need to call him names and treat him like a leper.

Although he is wanted for qualified human trafficking in connection with the illegal operations of a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (Pogo) hub in Porac, Pampanga, he is still presumed innocent until proven otherwise.

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The problem with Roque is he is very talkative, pugnacious and full of resentment despite his predicament.

When he recklessly engaged some of his fellow DDS (Duterte Diehard Supporters) in trash talk over a dispute on “free” food, Roque sometimes forgot his manners.

His biggest sin was fleeing from the Philippines and marshaling a vilification campaign against his perceived persecutors after being slapped with charges for qualified human trafficking.

As a lawyer he knows that those accused of crime should have the right to due process and must face the music, so to speak, in the proper forum, not fly the coop.

Roque’s flight was perceived to be a sign of guilt. He will only have himself to blame if some people suspect he did not want to face the charges against him after he ran out of alibi.

His actuations and bellicose attitude while abroad were seen as tantamount to creating his own monster and burying his own head in the quicksand.

The former Malacanang big shot during the halcyon years of the Duterte administration has shown no remorse and is bereft of humility.

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IT’S been several days since the name of Iloilo’s Uswag Ilonggo partylist Rep. James “Jojo” Ang Jr. was dragged as among the eight solons in the first batch of those recommended by the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) for criminal charges in the Office of the Ombudsman but not a single local official or Western Visayas colleague in the House of Representatives has come out with a statement or appeal to the Ilonggos to give him the benefit of the doubt and refrain from prejudging his case.

Either they are shamed to be identified with Ang now that he is under trouble, or they believe there is semblance of truth in the allegations against him that he benefited from kickbacks in the flood control project scandal.

Or both. Their silence is deafening.

By the way, most of the comments by the netizens in both the social and mainstream media recently appear to be cordial and sympathetic to Ang.

Some of them think the partylist solon can wiggle out from the mess if given the opportunity to defend himself in court.

Some netizens however took potshots at Ang’s connection with the International Builders Corporation (IBC) owned by his uncle Alfonso Tan, which allegedly bagged multibillion-peso worth of flood control, among other infrastructure projects these past years.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor-in-chief of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed)