5 days Ago By Jairo Bolledo
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rapplerAds.displayAd( "mobile-middle-1" );MANILA, Philippines – Retired police colonel Royina Garma is seeking asylum in the United States, her lawyer Emerito Quilang recently announced.“We are asking for a setting because we are requesting for an asylum.
But you know, the government, the US government, is very strict,” Quilang told reporters on Monday, April 14.The former police officer, previously known for her close ties with former president Rodrigo Duterte, faces a local murder plus frustrated murder complaints for the alleged killing of former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) board secretary Wesley Barayuga.The joint team of the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP CIDG) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) filed the complaints in early February.
Apart from Garma, the authorities also implicated retired police colonel and former National Police Commission commissioner Edilberto Leonardo, whistleblower Police Lieutenant Colonel Santie Mendoza, another witness Nelson Mariano, and Jeremy Causapin or “Toks” in the complaints.Mendoza and Mariano confessed during a quad committee hearing last year that the alleged order to kill Barayuga came from Garma and Leonardo. It was also revealed that it was made to appear that Barayuga was killed under the guise of a drug war operation, but the late police general’s name had only been added to the drug list after his slay.
Both the PNP CIDG and the NBI recommended Mendoza and Mariano as state witnesses. Usually, to be a state witness, the person should not appear to be the most guilty in the case, among other requirements.Garma is instrumental in unearthing the alleged irregularities in her former principal’s drug war as it was her affidavits that revealed how Duterte incentivized the PNP to allegedly carry out killings.
She also confessed to the existence of the Davao Death Squad (DDS) — the group that Duterte supposedly used to kill alleged criminals in Davao City — and how Duterte implemented his anti-drug template from his bailiwick all the way to the national level.Duterte is currently detained in The Hague, Netherlands over his crimes against humanity case that stemmed from his drug war and the DDS. The former president was arrested in March, or a few months after the House of Representatives initiated the quad committee hearings where bombshell testimonies like Garma’s had been unveiled.
Garma in the USGarma’s stay in the US was both curious and surprising. She flew to the country late 2024 even though the US had canceled her US visa before.Upon her return to the US last year after a failed prior attempt, she was arrested by US authorities in California and was placed under their custody.
Under Philippine laws, she was allowed to travel because she had no complaint pending at the time, nor a hold departure order.Garma’s visa had been blocked without her knowledge. This could probably be because of US sanctions on human rights violators after she had been previously named as one of the officers in Duterte’s DDS.
Back in February, interior chief Juanito Victor “Jonvic” Remulla confirmed to Rappler that Garma is being held in the United States over a money laundering case filed around November 24. – Rappler.com.
