Interior Secretary Juanito Victor Remulla has thrown down the gauntlet to former presidential spokesman Harry Roque, challenging him to show documentation proving that his application for political asylum in Austria remains valid and has not been rejected.
The exchange follows statements Remulla made during a press briefing at Camp Crame, where he asserted that Roque’s asylum bid had already been turned down after exceeding standard processing timelines.
“Once there is already a Red Notice (from Interpol), I will get him,” Remulla declared during the press briefing, noting that law enforcement would act on the standing arrest warrant issued against Roque over qualified human trafficking charges.
Roque quickly fired back, dismissing allegations of a rejected asylum application as “fake news” and arguing that the Interior chief misinterpreted standard asylum protocols.
“Secretary Remulla claims that my asylum application should be considered denied because it was supposedly not acted upon within six months. There is no such rule that automatically converts the passage of six months into a denial of an asylum application,” Roque said.
Maintaining that his filing “has been submitted for resolution,” Roque insisted he is simply awaiting the official decision from Austrian authorities.
“Until the Austrian authorities themselves issue a decision on my application, claims that my asylum bid has already been denied are false and misleading,” Roque said, adding that “public officials should verify their facts before making categorical statements on matters that are within the jurisdiction of a foreign sovereign state.”
When presented with Roque’s rebuttal, Remulla doubled down on his position and placed the responsibility squarely back on the former palace official.
“Let him show us his certification. The burden of proof is with him,” Remulla said.
“”I’m maintaining my statement that he has to prove that it hasn’t been denied. Timeline is six months. He’s way passed that,” the DILG chief added.