Padilla says Garma ‘pressured’ him to let Chinese inmates be killed

Corrections Supt. Gerardo Padilla, former head of the Davao Penal and Prison Farm when three Chinese nationals detained in the facility were killed, appears before the House of Representatives quad-committee on Wednesday, September 4, 2024. Padilla admitted to receiving orders not to interfere with an “operation” from former police officer Royina Garma. —Photo from the House of Representatives media bureau

MANILA, Philippines — A former prison official on Wednesday said one of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s most trusted police officers forced him to go along with a plot that led to the killing of three Chinese drug trafficking convicts at the Davao Prison and Penal Farm (DPPF) in August 2016.

Testifying before a joint House inquiry, Police Col. Gerardo Padilla, former officer in charge of the DPPF in Panabo City, Davao del Norte, said he was “subjected to intense pressure” by Royina Garma, then a police colonel heading the Central Visayas regional command of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the Philippine National Police.

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According to Padilla, Garma told him to “not question (the operation) ‘whether you like it or not’” and to “cooperate or you will be sorry (mananagot ka sa amin).”

Asked by Baguio Rep. Mark Go and Zambales Rep. Jay Khonghun what Garma meant, Padilla said it was to have three Chinese inmates killed, referring to convicted drug lords Chu Kin Tung, Li Lang Yang, and Wong Meng Pin.

At the time the inmates were reported killed on Aug. 16, 2016, authorities said they were stabbed dead by two Filipino inmates at the maximum security compound in an altercation over a drug deal.

“Why did Garma have that power and influence (to order you)?” Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante asked Padilla. “Could it be that you had followed her orders and allowed her to talk to you like that because she reports directly to Duterte?”

Cebu, PCSO posts

“Perhaps, your honor, because she was still deputy CIDG chief when (Duterte) was still mayor of Davao City, and she even became a station commander in one precinct in Davao,” Padilla said.

After giving statements implicating Garma, Padilla asked for an executive session, saying he had “very sensitive information that could endanger himself and his family.”

Under the Duterte presidency, Garma went on to head the Cebu City police before being appointed general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) in June 2019, replacing Alexander Balutan.

Her name cropped up in the previous hearing of the House “quad committee,” which was formed to conduct an encompassing inquiry into organized criminal activities during the Duterte years.

Lawmakers leading the probe said these crimes were interconnected and thus required the coordination and collective attention of four panels: the committees on dangerous drugs, on public order and safety, on human rights, and on public accounts.

‘Hawak ng nasa taas’

They said the probe would cover the narcotics trade, the now-banned Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos), and the extrajudicial killings and questionable police operations under Duterte’s brutal six-year drug war.

Padilla was called to the hearing after the two inmates tagged in the stabbing of the three Chinese, Leopoldo Tan and Fernando Magdadaro, testified that they overheard Padilla talking to someone who sounded like Duterte on his cell phone.

“I heard the person talking to him: ‘Congratulations, Supt. Padilla. Job well done. Pero grabe ’yung ginawa. Ginawang dinuguan (The manner of death is unbelievable; they were basically blood stew),’” Tan then said.

On Wednesday, Padilla recanted his earlier testimony that he had never met or talked with Garma. He now explained that he withheld this information for his safety and that of his family.

Padilla said he learned of the plot against the Chinese—and Garma’s instructions for him not to intervene—in a phone call using the mobile phone of another inmate, former policeman Jimmy Fortaleza.

Asked why he agreed to entertain Garma that way without first meeting her in person, considering they were of about the same rank, Padilla said he felt “pressured” because he knew Garma had the backing of higher-ups (“hawak ng nasa taas”).

“By intense pressure, you meant that there was a bigger person behind Garma’s instructions?” Abante pressed on. “Is that big person … our former President?”

“I’m not implicating him,” Padilla replied.

Transferred from Bilibid

He denied involvement in the plot, saying he had even tried to block—without success—a “request” from the Bureau of Corrections chief Ricardo Cruz to have the Chinese inmates transferred from the New Bilibid Prison to the DPPF.

“I don’t know why they were being transferred there when they were still facing pending cases (in Manila),” Padilla recalled.

“Perhaps they were being transferred because it’s easier for them to control the DPPF, compared to Bilibid?” asked Khonghun.

“Perhaps, your honor,” Padilla said.

Garma was listed among the persons invited to Wednesday’s hearing but did not appear.

On Sunday, Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, the quad comm chair, warned her that she should attend or face arrest for contempt.