By Marisol Bo-oc | 03:43 PM June 21, 2024
Alberto Rodulfo “AR” De La Serna is a hot topic this week after his name was linked to former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque as his “travel companion” for a trip to Europe.
Papers retrieved from a raided Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) hub in Pampanga include document appointing De La Serna Executive Assistant III with a Salary Grade 20 in the Office of the Presidential Spokesperson for nearly the entirety of 2021.
Along with De La Serna’s appointment papers dated Oct. 5, 2021, also retrieved from the POGO hub was an affidavit of support from Roque himself, where former President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesperson declared that he will take full responsibility for all the financial support that his assistant will be requiring for the duration of a trip to Poland, Ukraine, and Italy in October 2023.
“I am financially capable and willing to cover all expenses related to De La Serna’s travel, including, but not limited to, transportation, accommodation, meals, medical expenses, and any other necessary costs,” the affidavit signed by Roque stated. The former official said he was invited to Europe as a resource person in a forum on the peace process in Ukraine, and will need a travel companion “since I am diabetic, with coronary stent and suffering from acute spinal stenosis.”
Roque’s decision to bring de la Serna to his travels are being questioned by netizens on social media.
Advocacy group IMPACT Leadership further posted on its X a copy of De La Serna’s appointment paper as Roque’s executive assistant, as well as an affidavit of support which the former official signed, as recovered during the Lucky South 99 raid.
Roque told News5 that De La Serna comes from a political family, with one grandfather a former Bohol governor and another a former vice-mayor.
The ex-presidential spokesperson added he hired De La Serna and his friends to handle his social media accounts during his Malacañang stint and unsuccessful election bid.
The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission already cleared Roque’s name from further investigation and are not investigating De La Serna.
But who is AR De la Serna?
De La Serna was a former male pageant contestant who first competed at the 2015 Misters of Filipinas pageant. He later went on to become the Philippines’ representative in the first-ever staging of the Mister Supranational competition in Poland in 2016. He was proclaimed Top 20.
In 2019, Dela Serna worked as a crew of Cebu Pacific Batch 166 before he worked as staff at the Office of the Presidential Spokesperson.
De La Serna, who hails from Tagbilaran City, is a Business Administration graduate from Holy Name University in Tagbilaran City.
His mother, Glorivic Yap-Dela Serna, was a former village chairman in Barangay Poblacion 2 in Tagbilaran City.
Dela Serna’s uncle, Victor, was a former governor of Bohol.
