By Junex Doronio
MANILA – Did former President Rodrigo Duterte order the hit on retired General Wesley Barayuga?
This is one of the questions the House of Representatives’ four-committee panel, known as the Quad Comm, wants retired colonel and former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) general manager Royina Garma to answer, according to panel co-chair and House Committee on Human Rights Chair Rep. Bienvenido “Benny” Abante Jr.
On Monday, Abante urged Garma to “reveal all she knows about EJKs and identify those who ordered the killings, who carried out the orders, and all those involved.”
“Retired Colonel Garma’s explosive testimony last Friday linking former President Duterte and his close aide Sen. Lawrence ‘Bong’ Go to extrajudicial killings during the previous administration could be just the tip of the iceberg. This is just the beginning of a deeper inquiry into a more alarming issue: the alleged participation of higher officials in EJKs. There is much more to uncover, and we are committed to getting to the bottom of these serious allegations,” said the lawmaker.
Abante vowed the Quad Comm “will not stop until all the facts are laid bare because this is about accountability, from the lowest office to the highest post.”
“As she has declared, the truth will set her free. We welcome such a declaration, and we hope she would begin to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. She should not cover up the sins of her former superiors, the former president included,” added the representative from Manila.
For his part, Surigao Del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, the lead presiding officer of the Quad Comm, said among the issues he is personally interested in knowing is if the supposed directive to assassinate retired police general and PCSO board secretary Wesley Barayuga in July 2020 came from Garma or Duterte.
He noted that, so far, the testimony from retired colonel and National Police Commission Commissioner Edilberto Leonardo points to Garma as the one who ordered the “operation” on Barayuga and his inclusion in the Duterte administration’s drug list.
Former Colonel Edilberto Leonardo and Garma are graduates of the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA).
A PNPA junior graduate, Lt. Col. Santie Mendoza, testified before the Quad Comm that Leonardo asked him to find a hitman to carry out the assassination of Barayuga.
Mendoza said he enlisted Nelson Mariano, a drug informant of his, to contact a hired killer. The latter then reached out to a certain “Loloy” to execute the plan.
On the day of the assassination, Mariano claimed that he and Loloy received real-time information on Barayuga’s movements, including a photograph of the late PCSO board secretary, supposedly taken by Garma during a PCSO board meeting, as well as details about the vehicle Barayuga would be using.
The information, according to Mariano, was sent by a certain “Toks,” reportedly a close aide of Garma. He also stated that Toks gave him P300,000 as payment for the hit.
The retired general was killed near the PCSO office in Mandaluyong City.
“We want retired Col. Garma to comment on the detailed testimonies of Lt. Colonel Mendoza and Mr. Mariano, and of course, on other EJK cases,” said Barbers.
Barbers added that since Garma has denied any involvement in Barayuga’s murder, “she should reveal who ordered it.”
“She should also tell us what she knows about the murder of three Chinese drug lords inside the Davao prison in August 2016. She has been implicated by at least three witnesses,” Barbers emphasized.
The joint panel is also keen to hear what Garma knows about other EJK cases.
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