BARAYUGA CASE Crime scene investigators secure the pickup of then Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office board secretary Wesley Barayuga where he was shot dead on Calbayog Street, Mandaluyong City. Photo taken on July 30, 2020. —RICHARD A. REYES
MANILA, Philippines — A police narcotics officer told lawmakers on Friday that he was ordered to arrange the assassination of a senior Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) official allegedly by former PCSO general manager Royina Garma and National Police Commissioner Edilberto Leonardo for P300,000 during the pandemic.
Testifying as a surprise witness in the ongoing inquiry by the House quad committee that is looking into extrajudicial killings in the drug war and other criminal activities during the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, Police Lt. Col. Santie Mendoza said that the alleged hit job ordered by Garma was relayed to him by Leonardo.
READ: Garma, Leonardo deny masterminding PCSO exec Barayuga’s slay
‘Special operation’
Garma, who had earlier been implicated in the killing of three Chinese drug lords serving time at the Davao Prison and Penal Farm, and Leonardo, who was then chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of Davao region, strongly denied they were involved in the July 2020 killing of then PCSO board secretary Wesley Barayuga.
Mendoza, a member of the Drug Enforcement Group of the Philippine National Police, said that between October 2019 and July 2020, Leonardo called him up for a “special operation” against Barayuga, who was supposedly tagged as a “high-value” target in the drug war.
In response to a question by Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel, Mendoza said that he understood special operation to mean “to kill.” He said he felt coerced to go along with the plot because he knew that the two “were malakas (had the strong backing)” of Duterte.
Both Garma, a former Cebu City police chief, and Leonardo are believed to be close to Duterte, having served in Davao City while he was mayor. They were also implicated as key figures in the Davao Death Squad by confessed hit man Arturo Lascañas in an affidavit submitted to the International Criminal Court.
Hesitation
Mendoza said that he hesitated getting involved in the “project” because the target was a high government official but was pressured into going along with the plot because Leonardo told him the order came directly from Garma.
Garma had retired early from the PNP and was freshly appointed by Duterte as PCSO general manager.
On his way home on July 30, 2020, a motorcycle-riding hit man shot and killed Barayuga and wounded his driver Jun Gunao in broad daylight in Mandaluyong City.
Barayuga, a lawyer, was a retired police brigadier general and a member of the Philippine Military Class of 1983. His classmates, who include National Security Adviser Eduardo Año, rejected allegations that he was involved in illegal drugs and offered a P1-million reward for information on the killing.
STL operations
Pimentel said they had information that just before he was killed, the PCSO official was set to testify in a National Bureau of Investigation probe into alleged corruption in Small-Town Lottery (STL) operations.
In the Sept. 19 quad committee hearing, Garma was linked to alleged corruption in the PCSO in a report which said that she was receiving P1 million in weekly payola from illegal gambling in Cebu. She denied receiving any payoffs.
“General Barayuga was prepared to expose the illegal practices within PCSO. He had all the documents and evidence needed to implicate several individuals. That’s why they had him killed,” Pimentel said. “This murder wasn’t just about silencing one man; it was about protecting a web of corruption at the expense of justice and accountability.”
READ: Garma grilled over hiring relatives in PCSO, starting STL party-list
Info on movements
Mendoza said Leonardo gave him P300,000 as payment for the hit job. He said one of his informants, Nelson Mariano, who found a gunman, received P40,000 and the rest of the money went to the hit man they identified only as “Loloy.”
He said that Garma’s personal driver and bodyguard identified only as “Toks” was also involved in the plot, providing information about Barayuga’s movements on the day of the attack.
Mendoza alleged that Garma had assigned a PCSO vehicle purportedly for Barayuga’s daily use, but it was really intended to make it easier for the hit man to follow him around as the official just commuted to work daily and was around many other people who might get hit if he is shot.
Garma said she ordered no such rubout. She and Leonardo denied Mendoza’s allegations, saying this was the first time they had met the police officer.
“I’m just shocked right now,” Leonardo said. “All these allegations about me killing people, I’ve been facing them since 2016 … I feel like everyone is out to get me.”
Garma said that there was nothing irregular in issuing the vehicle, a pickup truck, to Barayuga as all PCSO officials were given one as part of a mass procurement of vehicles at the time.
‘An innocent man’
Mendoza, almost overcome by emotion, told Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro that he had felt coerced because he considered Garma and Leonardo his “respected upperclassmen (in the Philippine National Police Academy), but they gave me a job that … would ruin my life.”
“And why do you believe that this job ruined your life?” Luistro asked.
“Because we killed an innocent man,” he replied.
Both Mendoza and Mariano said that they decided to testify because they learned that the killing of Barayuga could be blamed on them.
“Apart from my conscience that’s been bugging me for four years, we got wind of text messages saying that there is a possibility that we would be made to appear as the masterminds and that I personally was the gunman,” Mendoza said.
“I would also like to apologize to the families,” Mariano said. “Please believe that we were also victims here.”
Recommended charges
Pimentel and Luistro asked that the quad committee include in its final report a recommendation to file murder and conspiracy charges against both Garma and Leonardo.
Luistro and Pasig Rep. Roman Romulo also asked the panel to place Mendoza and Mariano under the witness protection program and be deposed by the Department of Justice so their statement could be used in the future.
“After we terminate this hearing, their testimonies might go to waste,” Romulo said.
Barayuga served as executive officer of the PNP directorate for logistics before he retired. A PMA classmate and former PCSO Chair Anselmo Simeon Pinili, said Barayuga was a modest man who lets another member of his family use his car while he commutes to work and brings his own lunch to the office.
A month after the PCSO official was killed, National Capital Region Police Office chief Police Maj. Gen. Debold Sinas claimed that Barayuga was on Duterte’s “narcolist.”
Defended by classmates
This was refuted by Barayuga’s PMA classmates. “Wesley was never in any list before. Sinas must explain where he got that so-called list,” the PMA Class of 1983 said in a statement.
“He was never involved in drugs, not in any period of his entire career. Was that sudden drug issue a smokescreen to cover up the orchestrated murder of a man filled with integrity and honor who worked by the book and conscience?” the statement said.
Garma and Leonardo were also implicated in the murder of the three Chinese inmates at the Davao penal farm.
Former prison warden Col. Gerardo Padilla testified to the House committee that he was “subjected to intense pressure” by Garma to go along with the murder plot, and that Duterte personally called him later to “congratulate” him after the three drug lords were killed by other inmates who stabbed them.
Padilla said he talked to both Garma and Leonardo after the killings. Leonardo denied any involvement. —WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH