Dutch citizen petitions government to block Roque asylum bid

By Gene Alcantara

A dissenting Dutch-Filipino voice from a quiet corner in the Netherlands has surprised many on both sides of the political divide. 

Joel Vega, in a classic Dutch photograph, has lived in the Netherlands for over 25 years. [Photo courtesy of his Facebook page]

This lone voice is attempting to block the asylum application in this European country of former presidential spokesperson Herminio Roque Jr, who has been on the run for half a year now from the Philippines House of Representatives. 

Roque is in the Netherlands following the arrest of former Philippines President Rodrigo Roa Duterte by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity related to drug war March 11.

The Netherlands hosts the headquarters of the International Court of Justice or World Court, as well as the ICC where Duterte is detained while awaiting trial.

For nearly a couple of weeks, The Hague which has been dubbed as the City of Peace and Justice, has been the focus of political mobilizations by Duterte supporters and defenders who want him sent back home, on one hand, and by human rights groups who want the former president jailed for his crimes against an estimated 30,000 Filipinos, on the other hand. 

For the last 25 years, the city has been home for poet, writer, editor and visual artist, Joel Vega, author of the petition. 

Vega hails from the southern island of Leyte and graduated with a degree in Communication Arts from the University of the Philippines in Los Banos, Laguna.

He worked as a journalist in Saudi Arabia for about 3 years and then for Japanese television (NHK TV) until he moved to Europe.  

In 2005 Vega acquired Dutch citizenship by  naturalization.  He has yet to reacquire his dual citizenship even though he remains very Filipino in his outlook in life, as well as his moral standards.

This was partly why Vega’s poetry is full of Filipino themes, including poems that recorded the violence of the wanton extra judicial killings under former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s regime.  

He won the Philippines 2019 National Book Award in the category of Best Poetry Book in English for his poetry collection 'Drift' published in 2018 by the UST Publishing House.  His second volume of poetry, ‘Leviathan Days’, came out in 2023.

Joel Vega talks about his prized antique sculpture of a griffin-like figure with a beautiful human female face in his garden. [Photo by Gene Alcantara]

This too was what pushed him to counter Harry Roque’s calculated strategic asylum application in the Netherlands in order to avoid facing justice in the Philippines.

He decided to write his personal letter and then the change.org petition (full text below) to block Roque’s application. 

 “I did it for several reasons,” he told Pinoy Portal Europe, “but foremost is to expose the inconsistencies in the motives of Mr. Harry Roque against factual events, and also to uphold the integrity of the asylum procedure offered by the Dutch government. “

As taxpayers, Dutch citizens like him also pay part of the financial support extended to asylum seekers who are mostly from war-torn countries.  

“If Roque’s request would be approved it would set not only a precedent but would also trigger supporters of the current anti-immigration policies being implemented in the Netherlands,” he warned.

He added that "what Roque is doing could backfire on genuine asylum-seekers who are seeking protection from genuine harm for example in war-torn countries."

Vega slammed Roque saying "it is unfair and ironic for someone like Roque who actually defended the previous administration of Duterte, as presidential spokesperson, in their deadly war on drugs campaign and in actually persecuting dissenters and human rights advocates, to apply for asylum when he was one of those who oppressed and persecuted people back home."

In one video clip during question-and-answer with the press when he was Duterte’s spokesperson, Roque was recorded as saying he wished former Senator Leila de Lima spend her life in jail.  

De Lima was imprisoned for almost seven years on trumped-up drug charges under Duterte, and was only declared innocent by the courts under current President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Vega was surprised by the vitriol with which the Diehard Duterte Supporters or DDS trolls and defenders have been attacking him since his letter and petition came out.

“I already had previous experience with the DDS online army in 2016 when Duterte’s Drug War unfolded. A comment I made in one of the Facebook threads objecting to the EJK deaths attracted hate comments and physical threats. One of my guest columns I wrote for the Manila Standard was also thrashed by anonymous readers.”

He felt those incidents prepared him for the more sustained attacks on this petition.

He recalled that "the reactions and hate comments were obviously coming from the misplaced humiliation that these commenters felt when a shady political move by one of their leaders was exposed. They couldn’t bear the knowledge that people would point out what was plain and obvious.”

On the other hand, he was very happy with the way it was received by people from the pro-democracy and human rights side of the equation.

“Yes, I am happy and stunned by the massive support within the 24-hour period after two versions of the petition were posted in social media and change.org. People recognized the fallacy of Roque’s claims and his sneaky maneuvers.”

The petition particularly has gone viral because it is voicing out what many in the silent majority has not been able to express, particularly in view of demonstrations staged by DDS supporters and defenders in various European capitals, especially in The Hague where Duterte himself will face trial on 23 September 2025.

Roque emerged from hiding in a third country after he fled the Philippines about six months ago to escape questioning by the Congress.  He suddenly appeared with Vice President Sara Duterte and Senator Robinhood Padilla in The Hague soon after Duterte was brought to ICC, in the hope of getting appointed as Counsel for the defence.  

Realizing how ridiculous it would look for a fugitive from Philippine justice to try and defend her father in an international court, VP Duterte put a stop to this.

Vega has high hopes for the petition, although he knows it could get frustrating as he could wait a long time for the result of the decision making involved.

“I hope the Dutch asylum agency will consider the plea or look at Roque’s case within the contexts I mentioned previously. His move was tainted with political and personal gain at the expense of authentic asylum seekers. I would like to see that asylum benefits are offered to a pregnant woman from Ukraine or a widow from Syria rather than to a wealthy, powerful lawyer from the Philippines who is being investigated for possible misconduct or illegality.”

Pinoy Portal Europe's Gene Alcantara with the poet, writer, artist Joel Vega, author of the petition, at his house in Netherlands. [Photo by Gene Alcantara]

Vega’s petition has gathered over 17,000 signatures as of this writing.  And with Philippine media such as ABS CBN, Manila Standard, and Bombo Radyo carrying the story in their reports, and thousands of signers sharing it around the world, the petition is expected to collect more signatures.

Pinoy Portal Europe

*****

Full text of petition on change.org

“TO THE Immigratie-en Naturalisatiedienst (IND), Zuiderzeelaan 43-51, 8017 Jv Zwolle, Netherlands

Dear Sir/Madam

PLEASE REFUSE ASYLUM TO HARRY ROQUE, FUGITIVE, FORMER HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER AND SPOKESPERSON OF FORMER PRESIDENT RODRIGO ROA DUTERTE

We are very concerned to hear that Herminio Lopez Roque Jr., otherwise known as Harry Roque, previously a human rights lawyer apparently registered with the International Criminal Court, and former Spokesperson for the former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, is applying for asylum in the Netherlands.  He was previously hiding in the United Arab Emirates and came to the Netherlands in the hope of defending the former president.

We are writing to the Dutch Government to nip this attempt in the bud.  To quote from their website: “The Netherlands grants asylum to people who are in danger, risk torture or inhuman treatment in their country of origin. For example if there is a war in their country. First, however, special procedures are followed to determine whether an asylum seeker genuinely needs protection.”

Roque is not only unqualified for asylum in a great free country like the Netherlands.  He also does not meet the formal requirements for asylum. Furthermore, he is misusing the Dutch asylum system to evade justice from the House of Representatives, evade questions about his sudden wealth, his involvement in the now banned Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators, and alleged links with human trafficking operations. 

We address the various questions applied to asylum-seekers in the Netherlands, and our response under each:

•   You have well-founded reasons to fear persecution in your country of origin because of your race, religion, nationality or political opinion, or because you belong to a certain social group. These reasons are explained in the Geneva Convention on Refugees.

o   No, Roque is not being persecuted in his country of origin for any of these.  He is facing investigation on alleged crimes by the Philippine House of Representatives including qualified human trafficking due to his connections to and lawyering for POGOs (offshore international scam hubs), and was avoiding questions on his sudden wealth.

•   You have well-founded reasons to fear the death penalty or execution, torture or other inhumane or degrading treatment in your country of origin.

o No, Roque has no reasons to fear any of these.  He was in fact involved in promoting some of these terrible reasons when he was the Spokesperson for former President Duterte, who is now held at Scheveningen Detention Centre for charges of “crimes against humanity” by the International Criminal Court.

o    Roque chose to be a fugitive because he did not want to present evidence of his sudden wealth and was cited for contempt after refusing to do so.  The House of Representatives have since ordered his detention.

•    You have well-founded reasons to fear that you will become a victim of random violence due to an armed conflict in your country of origin.

o    No, Roque has no well-founded reasons to fear he would become a victim of random violence.  Remember that he was part of the previous administration whose penchant for violence and extra-judicial killings are well documented.

•    Your husband or wife, partner, father, mother or minor child has recently obtained an asylum residence permit in the Netherlands.

o    He has none of these that we know of. Roque is in fact in the Netherlands to try and become the Counsel for his previous employer and benefactor, the former President Duterte, who is now facing the crimes against humanity of murder following his arrest in the Philippines.  We cannot imagine a fugitive lawyer from the Philippines being allowed by the ICC to represent Duterte when he was himself complicit in the crimes against humanity for justifying and defending those crimes when they were in power, and he is himself sought for alleged crimes in his home country.

We have also just found out that Roque has supposedly signed recently the petition for habeas corpus by the former president’s son in the Philippines, when he was actually in hiding abroad.  This potentially involves fraudulent actions by Roque if proven true.

The irony of his situation appears to be lost on Roque.  He is doing this to try and escape Philippine justice by using the Dutch asylum system as a tool to stay in the Netherlands, at least while his spurious asylum application is considered, as they would protect him in country while the case is pending.  He would therefore be immune from deportation to the Philippines, while in the meantime he tries to take on the role of defense counsel for President Duterte.  This is totally unacceptable to us.

Please refuse Herminio Lopez Roque Jr’s asylum application on the basis of the points mentioned above.

Concerned Filipino Citizens”