TWO police officials have been ordered relieved in connection with the reopening of the PNP’s probe on the killing of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) board secretary Wesley Barayuga four years ago.

Lt. Col. Santie Mendoza and Col. Hector Grijaldo, both from the PNP Drug Enforcement Group, were re-assigned to the PNP Personnel Holding and Accounting Unit (PHAU) in Camp Crame.

Mendoza, during the hearing of the House of Representatives’ quad committee last Friday, implicated National Police Commission (NAPOLCOM) commissioner Edilberto Leonardo and former PSCO general manager Royina Garma in Barayuga’s murder.

Barayuga was shot dead in Barangay Highway Hills in Mandaluyong City on July 30, 2020 while aboard a vehicle. His driver, Jojo Gunao, was injured in the attack.

Mendoza told lawmakers he was allegedly instructed by Leonardo and Garma to carry out the killing of Barayuga. He claimed Garma provided intelligence information for the operation, which he was supposedly made to believe was related to a high-value target involved in illegal drugs.

Grijaldo was the chief of police of Mandaluyong City during Barayuga’s killing. There are allegations that Grijaldo did not properly investigate the case as part of the cover-up.

Fajardo said Mendoza and Grijaldo were re-assigned to PHAU to ensure their security and availability during the investigation. She said the two police officers may face criminal and administrative charges if found guilty.

PNP chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil on Sunday ordered the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) to reopen the probe on Barayuga’s killing following the testimony of Mendoza.

Fajardo said there will be no sacred cow in the investigation. “We will proceed (with the investigation) where the evidence will point us,” she said.

Leonardo, a retired police colonel, was named NAPOLCOM commissioner in February 2022 by former President Rodrigo Duterte, a few months before his term as president ended. NAPOLCOM commissioners have a fixed six-year term.

Garma, also a retired police colonel, once headed the Davao City police station. Duterte named her as PSCO general manager in 2019.

‘DAVAO TEMPLATE’

Also during last Friday’s hearing of the quad committee, lawmakers said Duterte allegedly met with alumni of the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) Class ‘96 and ‘97 on June 28, 2016 in Davao City to supposedly discuss the nationwide implementation of the “Davao template,” which purportedly became the blueprint for the bloody war on drugs of the Duterte administration.

Garma and Leonardo confirmed the meeting, which they said was a “courtesy call” on Duterte.

The two former police officials, however, gave conflicting accounts of the meeting, which took place just days before Duterte assumed the presidency.

While Garma, a member of PNPA Class 1997, admitted that the Davao template was mentioned during the meeting, Leonardo, a member of PNPA Class 1996, said he could not recall any discussion on the bloody strategy.

Garma and Leonardo are among the Davao police officers believed to be close to Duterte, along with then-Davao City police chief and now Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, who was appointed by Duterte as his first PNP chief and tasked with implementing the drug war.

Both Duterte and Dela Rosa are being investigated by the International Criminal Court for human rights violations in relation to the “Oplan: Tokhang” operations.

The 2016 meeting, which was held on the second floor of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) building in Davao City, was supposedly attended by members of PNPA Classes of 1996 and 1997, many of whom played significant roles in Duterte’s aggressive anti-drug operations throughout his tenure as mayor of Davao City.

Leonardo confirmed during the questioning of Rep. Joseph Stephen Paduano, one of the quad committee’s chairmen, that former Special Assistant to the President and now Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go, was at the venue but did not participate in the meeting.

No resource person could confirm Dela Rosa’s presence in the meeting. The senator has already issued a press statement denying his attendance at the meeting.

During the hearing, Paduano quizzed Garma and Leonardo about the “Davao template” as the joint committee traced the origin of Duterte’s controversial drug war.

“Did you talk of something about that war on drugs? Sabihin na nating Davao template? (Let’s just call it Davao template)?” Paduano asked Garma, who replied: “May napag-usapan po (There was a discussion) but it’s not in-depth, it’s just passing, Mr. Chair.”

When Paduano told Garma to directly answer him if the Davao template was discussed or not, Garma said: “Napag-usapan din po (It was also discussed).”

Leonardo, who was cited in contempt and ordered detained at the House, however said he could not recall if the topic was discussed with the PNPA batch ‘96.

Garma also said she could not recall seeing Dela Rosa and Go in Duterte’s meeting with PNPA batch ‘97. “Wala akong naalalang pumunta si General Bato at saka si Sen. Bong Go dun sa aming room (I don’t remember Gen. Bato and Sen. Bong Go going to our room),” she said.

Leonardo, on the other hand, recalled seeing Go but could not confirm Dela Rosa’s presence.

“Ang alam ko, sir, lumabas po kami sa corridor. (What I know, sir, we went to the corridor). Then we met Sen. Bong Go during that time,” Leonardo said, quickly adding that he could not recall if Go attended the meeting.

Grijaldo, a member of PNPA Class 1997, contradicted Garma’s statement that the Davao template was discussed in the meeting.

For his part, Antipolo City Rep. Romeo Acop, a former police general himself, pointed out the inconsistencies between Garma and Leonardo’s statements.

“Either of you, ikaw at si Madam Garma, ang nagsisinungaling kasi hindi pwedeng nagsisinungaling kayong parehas (Either you or Madam Garma is lying because you can’t both be lying),” Acop told Leonardo.

Paduano pointed out the connection between the meeting and the series of drug killings that followed it, citing as example a pattern of violence in correctional facilities, specifically mentioning incidents in the Davao prison where suspected Chinese drug lords were killed, the killing of Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. inside a Leyte jail after being tagged by Duterte as a drug lord, and the Parañaque jail blast that killed 10 drug-related inmates.

The lawmaker, chair of the House Committee on Public Accounts, also said the joint committee has records of additional killings in Bureau of Jail Management and Penology facilities. – With Wendell Vigilia