Pandi mayor Enrico Roque gets released, court orders reinvestigation of his rape charges
Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of rape.
The Caloocan Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 121 released Pandi, Bulacan mayor Enrico Roque on Monday, Dec. 23 after granting his motion to quash his arrest warrant.
His legal counsel Atty. John Ree Doctor confirmed that Roque has been released and is back in Pandi.
In the formal request made public on Dec. 19, Roque’s camp claimed that the rape accusations being thrown at the mayor were “false, made up, and politically motivated.” It also stated that he, and the other accused—Pandi councilor JonJon Roxas, and another government employee—were not residents of Barangay 188 in Caloocan City, contrary to what was indicated in his warrant of arrest, which prevented them from receiving the said complaint.
The request also stated that Roque and the two others were “deprived of the opportunity to be informed of the facts” and that the charges filed against them were a violation of their constitutional right to due process.
With this, the court directed the Office of the City Prosecutor in Caloocan City to reinvestigate the charges.
In a video shared by the Facebook page of Vice Mayor Lui Sebastian, Roque was warmly welcomed by his supporters at the Pandi Municipal Hall Compound.
“‘Yung pinakamaganda na lesson na natutunan ko ay ‘yung ipamulat sa ‘kin ng panginoon na dito sa kinalagyan ko ngayon, nakita ko ‘yung buhay ng mga ka-kosa ko, ‘yung mga detainees na andito, ipinamulat sa ‘kin na may hustisiya pero kailangan maging fair, siguro someday baka maging advocacy ko na hindi pala lahat ng nakukulong ay may talagang kasalanan,” the Pandi mayor told the press.
On the night of Dec. 17, Roque, Roxas, and an unnamed government employee were arrested in a resort. This came after a woman filed a complaint against the suspects for allegedly sexually abusing her in Caloocan on April 6, 2019.
The warrant pertains to two counts of Rape under Article 266-A of the Revised Penal Code (Criminal Case Nos. 126653 and 126654), dated Nov. 11, 2024.
