FILE MURDER CHARGES AGAINST GARMA, LEONARDO ASAP, BARBERS ASKS DOJ

By Junex Doronio

MANILA — The lead presiding officer of the House of Representatives Quad Comm has urged the Department of Justice (DOJ) to file murder charges against retired police Colonels Royina Garma and Edilberto Leonardo for the July 2020 ambush-slaying of retired police Gen. Wesley Barayuga.

“We are in close coordination with the DOJ. They have representatives monitoring our hearings precisely because we are unearthing evidence of criminal activities and other acts of wrongdoing in the course of our inquiry. They should interview our two witnesses last Friday and assess their testimonies,” Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers said.

He was referring to police Lt. Col. Santie Mendoza of the Philippine National Police Drug Enforcement Group and Nelson Mariano, a drug informant of Mendoza.

Barbers, who chairs the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs, said the DOJ should already take cognizance of Mendoza’s and Mariano’s testimonies and their affidavits and file murder charges against Garma and Leonardo as soon as possible.

“They do not have to wait for the (final) report of the joint committee, which will include a recommendation to file such charges. The panel will take time to write the report since the inquiry is still ongoing,” he said.

During last Friday’s Quad Com hearing, Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel, who had the first opportunity to question Mendoza, suggested that such recommendation be included in the committee report.

Pimentel said it was clear from the testimonies of Mendoza and Mariano that Garma and Leonardo, who are among police officers close to former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, were allegedly behind Barayuga’s assassination on July 30, 2020.

He described Garma as a “ruthless killer” pretending to be a “meek lamb.”

In his testimony, Mendoza said in October 2019, Leonardo, allegedly upon Garma’s request, asked him to “operate” on a target, later identified as Barayuga.

He said in the context of the Duterte administration’s bloody war on illegal drugs, the term “operate” meant killing the target.

Garma and Leonardo are Mendoza’s seniors or upperclassmen at the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA).

The police officer said he obeyed his PNPA seniors’ instruction by asking Mariano to contact a potential hitman, whom the two of them called as “Loloy.”

He said Leonardo also told him that a trusted aide of Garma, known as “Toks,” would call him for other details.

He said he referred Toks to Mariano, who testified that the alleged Garma aide gave him information on the movement of Barayuga on the day “Loloy” carried out the assassination not far from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office in Mandaluyong City.

Barayuga was PCSO board secretary, while Garma was then its general manager.

Mariano said the information supplied by Toks included a picture, apparently taken by Garma, of Barayuga while attending a PCSO meeting on that fateful day in July 2020, and a description of the vehicle Barayuga would use and its plate number.

Mendoza’s drug informant said the real-time information was relayed via mobile phone through Viber.

Barbers said the DOJ should ask Mendoza and Mariano to submit the mobile phone evidence linking Garma and Leonardo to Barayuga’s assassination.

“The exchange of messages via Viber and the supposed photo of Barayuga taken by Garma during their PCSO meeting will strengthen the case against Garma and Leonardo,” he said.

During last Friday’s hearing, Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop showed Mariano a copy of a picture of Toks.

The witness confirmed that it was the same person he met and who gave him P300,000 as payment for the assassination of Barayuga, who was a graduate of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Matikas Class of 1983.

Acop, also a PMA graduate, said the late PCSO board secretary was killed because he opposed Garma’s desire to expand PCSO’s small-town lottery (STL) operations, including the grant of STL franchises to friends of Garma and police officers close to then President Duterte.

“That was the real motive. They just made it appear that Atty. Barayuga was involved in drugs. He was a victim of the war on drugs. He was a simple man. He rode public transportation and brought his ‘baon’ to his office,” he said.

Acop also chided then PCSO chairperson Anselmo Pinili, a PMA classmate of Barayuga, for allegedly suppressing information about his classmate’s ambush-slaying.

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