POLICE investigators are eyeing murder and frustrated murder charges against former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) general manager Royina Garma, resigned National Police Commission (Napolcom) commissioner Edilberto Leonardo and several others in connection with the 2020 assassination of then PCSO board secretary Wesley Barayuga.
In a press briefing at Camp Crame, PNP spokesperson Brig. Gen. Jean Fajardo said the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) was just waiting for the prepared affidavit of Barayuga’s wife to be signed before filing the cases against the suspects.
To be also charged with Garma and Leonardo are police Lt. Col. Santie Mendoza, dismissed police corporal Nelson Mariano, police Staff Sergeant Jeremy Causapin, and the gunman, who was earlier identified as one Loloy.
“These are the names, I understand, that will be included in the complaint that will be filed by the CIDG and of course other John Does Jane Does,” said Fajardo.
Garma, a retired police colonel, once headed the Davao City police station. Former President Rodrigo Duterte named her as PSCO general manager shortly after retiring from the PNP in 2019.
Leonardo, also a retired police colonel, was named Napolcom commissioner in February 2022, a few months before Duterte vacated the presidency.
During a recent House quad committee hearing, Mendoza said he was instructed by Leonardo and Garma to allegedly carry out the murder of Barayuga in exchange for P300,000, a claim corroborated by Mariano who admitted recruiting the hitman.
The money, which allegedly came from Garma, was supposedly handed over by Causapin, a former aide of Garma, to Mendoza.
Barayuga, a retired police general, was shot dead in Barangay Highway Hills in Mandaluyong City on July 30, 2020 while aboard his PCSO service vehicle. His driver, Jojo Gunao, was injured in the attack.
“As of now, the case folder is ready for filing. We’re just waiting for the appearance of General Barayuga’s wife and other relatives of the victims so we can formally file the complaint. The case folder is already complete,” said Fajardo.
“We’re waiting for the appearance of Mrs. Barayuga. There’s a prepared affidavit which she needs to review with her lawyer,” she said, adding the affidavit was prepared by the PNP with the assistance of Mrs. Barayuga’s lawyer.
“As soon as it (affidavit) is signed, the CIDG will file these cases,” she added.
Fajardo said Mendoza will “definitely” be charged since he admitted his role in the assassination during the quad committee hearing. “That will not exculpate him from this case,” she said.
Asked when the cases will be filed, Fajardo said: “Actually, the documents are already ready. We’re just waiting for the appearance of the family of general Barayuga and the driver (Gunao).”
Authorities earlier said they are studying if Mendoza and Mariano can be admitted into the government’s Witness Protection Program.
“The DOJ (Department of Justice) is contemplating, studying, the possibility of placing them under the Witness Protection Program,” said Fajardo.
She said though that their admission “depends on the appreciation of the prosecutor.”
She said the PNP is also investigating police Capt. Kenneth Albotra who had been implicated by Garma to the 2018 killing of Tanauan, Batangas mayor Antonio Halili. Albotra has already denied involvement in Halili’s killing.
“He will be questioned with respect to this case,” said Fajardo, adding that Albotra will be given the opportunity to clear his name.
“We have to give a little time to the CIDG to really dig deeper into this case,” she said.
REWARD SYSTEM
The chairmen of the House quad committee yesterday laughed off the denials of Senators Ronald dela Rosa and Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go on their alleged participation in the Duterte administration’s scheme to offer cash rewards for every drug suspect killed in the bloody war on drugs, saying the evidence discovered by the joint panel belies their claims.
“The evidence so far unearthed in the quad comm belies Sens. Bato’s and Bong Go’s denials of EJK involvement and existence of the reward system that was public knowledge during the previous administration, particularly in the Philippine National Police (PNP),” Sta. Rosa City Rep. Dan Fernandez, who chairs the House Committee on Public Order and Safety, one of the four panels comprising the quad committee, said in a statement.
Fernandez noted that Garma and Lt. Col. Jovie Espenido have testified that there was a scheme to reward killers of drug suspects.
“Not only did it exist; it was managed by higher-ups, meaning by Malacañang (Duterte administration),” he said.
In her affidavit which she read during last Friday’s quad committee hearing into the summary killings under the Duterte administration, Garma disclosed key details about the roles of Go in overseeing the anti-drug operations.
Garma also confirmed the creation of a national task force patterned after the “Davao Model,” which provided police with financial rewards for killing drug suspects, funding for planned operations, and reimbursement for operational expenses.
Dela Rosa was the PNP chief who implemented the drug war during the early years of the administration while Go was the former president’s special assistant.
The quad committee — composed of the Committees on Dangerous Drugs, Public Order and Safety, Human Rights, and Public Accounts — has been investigating the links between Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), the proliferation of the illegal drugs trade, the massive property acquisition of some Chinese citizens and the reward system for the killings of drug suspects, which lawmakers have found, have been partly funded by POGO money.
In a separate interview with reporters, Fernandez said the quad committee will also look into the possibility that Malacañang’s confidential and intelligence fund (CIF) was used to bankroll the reward system, revealing that the joint panel has received information that there were months when a huge chunk of Duterte’s secret funds was used.
“Lumabas lang ‘yan nu’ng nasabi ni Royina Garma na nanggagaling ang pera sa Malacañang. Kung nanggaling sa Malacañang ang pondo at operation ito ng police, manggagaling ito sa intel fund (It only came out when Royina Garma said the money came from Malacañang. If the money came from Malacañang and it was a police operation, it was funded by intel fund),” he said.
Fernandez said the quad committee has to investigate how the money, especially the intel fund of the Office of the President, “was used for this purpose,” especially since the liquidation process for CIFs is “not really strict.”
The use of CIFs is subject to the audit of the Commission on Audit (COA) but the findings are not released to the public.
Surigao del Norte Rep. Barbers, lead chair of the quad comm who heads the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs, cited Espenido’s testimony that millions, perhaps billions, in rewards “flowed from the level of Sen. Bong Go, a close aide of former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.”
Quoting Espenido, Barbers said the reward system was funded by money from “jueteng” and other illegal gambling activities, intelligence funds, PCSO’s notorious small-town lottery (STL) operations and POGOs.
“Our impression is that the intelligence funds came from the Office of the President and the PNP. When these funds are audited, we will find out who is telling the truth or lying: Sen. Bato and Sen. Bong Go, or Garma and Espenido,” Barbers said, adding that he would rather believe the two witnesses instead of the two senators.
Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr., also one of the quad committee chairmen who chairs the House Committee on Human Rights, said that in the case of money from POGO, jueteng and STL operators, it is evident that “these funds indeed flowed from the top.”
Abante pointed out that testimonies have established that in 2016, Dela Rosa and Go were seen in Duterte’s meeting with senior police officers, including Garma and Leonardo.
“The Davao City EJK template and reward system was discussed during the meeting. A few weeks later, the assassination of drug suspects in police operations and by riding-in-tandem hired guns started. It is not difficult to connect the dots,” he said.
Garma has told the joint panel that Duterte supposedly asked her in May 2016, right before he assumed the presidency, to identify a police officer who is a member of the Iglesia ni Cristo and who will be capable of implementing the war on drugs using the Davao model.
Garma said she ended up giving the name of Leonardo, who was her upperclassman at the PNP Academy.
She said she was later informed by Leonardo that he had been allegedly instructed by Duterte to organize a task force against illegal drugs and invited her to join the task force, which she declined. She said Leonardo also informed her that he prepared a proposal, through Go, outlining the task force’s operations.
NBI PROBE
National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Jaime Santiago said they are just waiting for an official order from the Department of Justice to commence their investigation into Garma’s allegations.
The NBI is an agency attached to the DOJ.
“I heard the Secretary of Justice will be issuing an order for preliminary investigation,” Santiago said in a press briefing at the NBI headquarters in Quezon City.
At present, he said the NBI is investigating the killing of Barayuga. “We have taken the statements of the possible witnesses so we can come up with concrete evidence, so we can file the proper case,” Santiago said in a mix of English and Filipino.
The DOJ has earlier said it will coordinate with the PNP in investigating the assassination of Barayuga in 2020. — With Wendell Vigilia and Ashzel Hachero
