When the at least two foreign nationals believed to have links to a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) firm were apprehended at the house in Tuba, Benguet reportedly owned by one attorney Herminio “Harry” Lopez, Jr. (Atty. Roque) for brevity, the senate investigation committee invited him to shed light on his link to POGO.
He however admitted that he was the lawyer of Whirlwind by Katherine Cassandra “Cassy” Li Ong, who is Lucky South’s representative to regulator Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) in Porac, Pampanga. The said house was the subject of a mission order of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) and the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) where documents linked to him were found.
During the hearing that Atty. Roque disclosed that he is in the process of obtaining a controlling interest in the corporation by buying out the shares of its incorporators, including the share of Alberto Rodulfo “AR” de la Serna, his executive assistant who he allowed to live in his house.He also stated that the property is registered to a corporation called Biancham Holdings Inc., in which he admitted he had an interest.
He further said that the property’s current registered lessee is a Chinese national named Huan Yun, who is also registered with the homeowners’ association. He admitted having stayed in the said house when he left government service but the property is now leased to a foreign national whose name he could not recall.
In a display of legalese, Atty. Roque vehemently denied having lawyered for any POGO as he claimed that there is no contract where he entered to show any lawyer-client relationship. Even when he was pressed that he was lawyering for Whirlwind company, but the effect, the implication of lawyering for this company, will in effect benefit Lucky South 99. In fact, he accompanied Cassy Ong to PAGCOR and followed up with said agency regarding a financial obligation to the said agency.
The investigation which aims to gather information that would clarify the involvement of Atty. Roque as lawyer of POGOs had been obfuscated by the intertwined tales that seemed to cover the real connections of the persons involved. With all the legal jargon used by Atty. Roque to show that he is not lawyering for POGOs, his attention was called by a member of the investigating team who is a lawyer where a recent jurisprudence was cited on how to determine the so-called lawyer-client relationship.
He went mum when the Supreme Court ruling was read where it was declared that even if there is no contract and even if the services are free, as long as the lawyer represented the client in any capacity, there is a lawyer-client relations. That statement cleared all the intended fuzzing.
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