INTERIOR Secretary Juanito Victor “Jonvic” Remulla yesterday vowed to end the practice of some police officials resorting to extra-judicial means in dispensing justice.
In a radio interview, Remulla said the culture started during the Duterte administration and continues during the present administration.
“The problem is that during the previous administration, there was a cultural shift among PNPA (Philippine National Police Academy graduates) because extrajudicial means of dispensing justice has become normal to them and it became acceptable,” said Remulla in Filipino.
“That culture is still existent, until now they (erring officials) are still out there,” added Remulla, without naming names.
Remulla did not elaborate as to the extra-judicial means being used by some police officials.
The previous administration was widely criticized for supposedly resorting to extra-judicial killings (EJK) in its bloody war against illegal drugs.
“So they need a change of mindset, they need to be prosecuted really and determine who participated in the EJK and weed out those who participated,” said Remulla.
“It (EJK) became normal to them, it became normal for them to take the law into their own hands,” added Remulla.
Two PNPA graduates, retired Col. Royina Garma and retired Col. Edilberto Leonardo (now a National Police Commission commissioner), have been linked to the 2020 murder of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office board secretary Wesley Barayuga, a retired police general.
Barayuga, a member of the Philippine Military Academy class of 1983, was posthumously included in the list of people involved in illegal drugs.
Garma and Mendoza were linked to Barayuga’s murder by another PNPA graduate, Lt. Col. Santie Mendoza.
Mendoza, during a recent House quad committee hearing, said he was instructed by Garma and Leonardo to carry out the murder of Barayuga in exchange for P300,000, a claim corroborated by retired police Corporal Nelson Mariano, who admitted recruiting the hitman, a certain Loloy.
Remulla said the killing of Barayuga will be investigated. PNP chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil has ordered the reopening of the investigation into the Barayuga killing after Mendoza’s revelation.
“Of course, we need to look into it. It (killing) has become systemic and to break that systemic order you have to set a moral hazard for those who have become active in that kind of system of justice,” said Remulla.