Roque stands by past posts but having opinions not part of new job

MANILA, Philippines — His previous opinions are irrelevant now. 

This was presidential spokesperson Harry Roque Jr.'s response to people who scrutinized positions and opinions he held prior to his appointment as the mouthpiece of the most powerful man in the country.

In a press briefing Monday, Roque, once a human rights lawyer, said that he "ceased to have personal opinions" when he became President Rodrigo Duterte's spokesperson.

"May I take this opportunity to [address] my bashers. Number 1: Your bashing will not affect me. Number 2, 'yung mga kino-quote niyong mga opinion ko (my personal opinions that you have been quoting), I stand by my personal opinion, but when I became presidential spokesperson, I lost my personal opinion,” Roque said. 

He added: "I can only speak the thoughts of the president. That is the nature of my job."

READ: Roque's 2011 blog post ignites discussion on his past support for ICC

Roque was reacting to the circulation of his 2011 blog post "ICC: At Long Last" — where he expressed his elation at the Philippines' ratification of treaty on the International Criminal Court. 

Seven years later, Roque, who had worked as chairperson of the Philippine Coalition for International Criminal Court, said he supports Duterte's decision to withdraw ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

He, however, maintained that he has not changed his mind about the country’s membership with the ICC.

"My principles have not changed but the prosecutor was really out of bounds," Roque said of Fatou Bensouda, the Gambian ICC prosecutor conducting a preliminary examination into allegations of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines.

Roque earlier said the Palace welcomes the preliminary examinations, which he stressed, is not the same as a preliminary investigation. 

Roque on Monday reiterated that the ICC's move to conduct a preliminary examination violated its "complementarity" rule. According to the ICC, state parties are expected to uphold the law in their jurisdictions and the ICC can only act as a last resort in case the justice systems of the state parties do not work.

"Let us not compare our courts to those in countries like Burundi, Sudan and Somalia," Roque said in Filipino. Burundi, as it happens, is the only other state party to withdraw its ratification of the Rome Statute.

Past post on Napoles as state witness

His 2014 post questioning the possibility of turning Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged mastermind behind the pork barrel scam, into a state witness was also brought up in the press briefing. 

"If Janet Napoles becomes state witness, they might as well admit all administration senatongs and tongressmen as state witness vs opposition. Where is justice in this country? It appears that crime does pay here," Roque once wrote. 

But he reiterated: “I ceased to have personal opinions as of November 7, 2017 when I took my oath as a presidential spokesperson.”

The Justice department granted Napoles provisional protection as a government witness last Friday. 

READ: Roque defends ICC withdrawal, despite work he put into Philippines' membership