2 more cops face probe over PCSO exec’s killing

Screenshot from the CCTV footage showing the motorcycle-riding gunman firing shots at the vehicle of PCSO Board Secretary Wesley Barayuga in Mandaluyong City. Screenshot provided by the Mandaluyong City PNP

MANILA, Philippines – Two more police officers have been relieved of their posts amid the reinvestigation into the killing of retired police general and Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) board secretary Wesley Barayuga.

In a press conference held at Camp Crame Friday, Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said these are Col. Roland Vilela and S/Sgt. Jeremy Causapin, who were assigned to the Information Technology and Management Service (ITMS) and Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), respectively.

Vilela is the former husband of retired police colonel and then PCSO general manager Royina Garma, one of the alleged masterminds in Barayuga’s killing as claimed by PNP Drug Enforcement Group member Lt. Col Santie Mendoza during a recent hearing of the House of Representatives Quad Committee.

READ: NBI also reopens 2020 Barayuga murder case

Meanwhile, Causapin was an aide of Garma.

“Pending investigation, Col. Roland Vilela was relieved and he was transferred to the PHAU (Personnel Holding and Accounting Unit). He was married with Garma before and there were revelations during the Quadcom hearing that cannot be ignored because these are serious allegations,” Fajardo said.

She said these involved “money transfer transactions” linked to the former PCSO chief.

Fajardo, meanwhile, said Causapin, known as alias “Toks,” was named as the one who gave PHP300,000 to Mendoza’s drug informant Nelson Mariano, who later contacted a potential hitman named “Loloy” to carry out Barayuga’s assassination.

She said Causapin would not be spared from the investigation despite his resignation from the police force.

“I was informed earlier by (CIDG chief) Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre III that when they looked for Causapin and came to his house, it was only his wife who faced the police. The wife handed over Causapin’s resignation letter and surrendered the service firearm of her husband,” she said.

Fajardo called on Causapin to surface and submit himself to the custody of the PNP for his own protection.

Aside from Mendoza, another police officer, Col. Hector Grijaldo, former Mandaluyong City police, was earlier placed under restrictive custody amid the reinvestigation into possible lapses in the handling of the case of Barayuga.

Reports showed that a motorcycle-riding gunman shot Barayuga, who was inside his car, along Calbayog Street in Barangay Highway Hills, Mandaluyong City in July 2020.