Drug war cases ‘being reopened’ after Garma’s exposé – Remulla

This file photo shows, then-presidential candidate and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte shaking hands with then-Cavite Governor Jonvic Remulla. INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — Some cases related to the drug war “are now being reopened” following retired police colonel Royina Garma’s testimony linking former President Rodrigo Duterte and other government officials to the killings, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said on Monday.

Remulla clarified that the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) is still waiting for the testimonies and other information from the House of Representatives quad committee’s upcoming hearings.

READ: Panelo on Garma’s drug war exposé: ‘Pure imagination’ 

“I think pretty soon there will be corroborative testimonies that will abound,” he told reporters during a press conference.

“I think with their testimonies, some of the cold cases will be opened, but again, let us wait until the final hearing and final recommendations of the quad comm are done, and then subsequent actions will be taken, but take it to light several cold cases are now being reopened but in advance of what she (Garma) said, that is a developing matter which we have to wait until the full testimonies are given,” he added.

Remulla explained that since the testimonies were delivered under oath, the police could use these “as an initial point of investigation and to file charges.”

During the quad panel’s hearing last Friday, Oct. 11, Garma alleged that Duterte and other high-ranking officials during his administration sanctioned covert operations replicating the Davao City model of extrajudicial killings on a national scale.

In her affidavit, Garma disclosed that Duterte allegedly contacted her about the creation of a national task force, and among the key figures in implementing the scheme was Colonel Edilberto Leonardo.

Garma said Leonardo purportedly collaborated with Duterte and his aide, now Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go, to establish a task force comprising “liquidators” nationwide.

She also said Leonardo allegedly conducted briefings for all Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency officials and even chiefs of the Philippine National Police. He also had the final authority on who would be on the watchlist.

Salvador Panelo, Duterte’s former spokesperson and presidential legal counsel, dismissed Garma’s testimony as “pure imagination or fertile speculation.”

Panelo also questioned Garma’s knowledge of the operations, saying her information only came from “hearsay” and “conveyed or relayed to her by sources.”

He claimed she might have “succumbed to threat or intimidation under pain of incarceration if she did not make the allegations contained in her affidavit.”