Lacson: Past admin should’ve checked rogue cops

Murdered PCSO officer Wesley Barayuga —PCSO              Former PCSO GM Royina Garma —HoR

MANILA, Philippines — Former president Rodrigo Duterte’s administration should have kept an eye on possible rogue police officers who may use the drug war as cover for their self-interest, former senator Panfilo Lacson said on Monday.

Lacson, in an interview with Radyo5, was asked about the House of Representatives quad committee hearing last Friday where an active police official tagged two former police colonels—National Police Commission (Napolcom) Commissioner and former Davao Region CIDG Chief Edilberto Leonardo and former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) general manager Royina Garma who was formerly chief of Cebu City Police Office—in the killing of former PCSO board secretary Wesley Barayuga.

READ: Napolcom’s Leonardo, Garma tagged in killing of PCSO’s Barayuga

According to Police Lt. Col. Santie Mendoza, the cop supposedly ordered to facilitate the hit on Barayuga, he thought the operation was due to the late PCSO official being involved in the illegal drug trade.

“So this is what the past administration should have monitored. The Senate cannot do much except to investigate, start an inquiry, and then make recommendations,” Lacson, also a former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, said.

READ: Garma, Leonardo deny masterminding PCSO exec Barayuga’s slay

“But what the authorities should have done then was to anticipate that there will be rogue personnel or police officers that would take advantage of former president Duterte’s all-out drug war,” he added.

READ: ‘Mistahs’ of slain ex-PCSO exec Barayuga laud quad comm probers

Lacson said that he is not accusing Duterte of masterminding or even having an idea about the killings, but this alleged use of the drug war to justify Barayuga’s killing could have been prevented.

“We are not accusing the former President of knowing all that is happening because abuses are happening at the stage where operations are being implemented, and these have not been proven—as a matter of fact, no cases have been filed in courts,” he said.

Drug war, used as accessory

“But based on the hearings and the testimony, what lawyers call the details of the truth, it seems hard to set aside that what happened to Gen. Barayuga is highly possible not related to illegal drugs, but that the drug war was only used as accessory to liquidate their fellow law enforcer, even if he is a former PMA cadet,” he added.

Mendoza, during the seventh hearing of the quad committee, said that Leonardo contacted him about operating a high-value drug target in the person of Barayuga, a former police general and a member of the Philippine Military Academy Matikas Class of 1983.

According to Mendoza, he told Leonardo that he would think about the operation, but the Napolcom official said that this operation would bode well for the police officer’s career.

Mendoza said Leonardo sent him a synopsis that would show how Barayuga was supposedly involved in the illegal drug trade, but when the former said he would conduct his own study, Leonardo supposedly said the hit already had Garma’s blessing.

When they were about to carry out the attack, Mendoza said that Leonardo informed them that Barayuga was inside the PCSO office in Mandaluyong, with Garma sending a photo of the late board secretary.

Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop, another former police general, said that the killing of Barayuga actually sparked tensions between graduates of the PNP Academy (PNPA) and the PMA alumni, as Leonardo and Garma come from the PNPA Class of 1996 and 1997, respectively.

Acop believes Barayuga was killed because he opposed Garma’s plans to expand the small-town lottery operation of PCSO. Garma and Leonardo denied involvement in the killings.

On Sunday, members of the PMA Matikas Class of 1983 commended the quad committee for hearing Mendoza’s testimony that led to the identification of the alleged masterminds behind the killing of their “mistah” (batchmate) Barayuga.

The PNP leadership also vowed to reopen its investigation of Barayuga’s killing, with the new details coming out just now.