As part of the ongoing hearings of the so-called “Quad-Committee” of the Philippine House of Representatives to investigate human rights violations in the context of the so-called “war on drugs” under former President Duterte’s administration, former police chief Royina Garma gave a sworn statement on October 23, 2024. Garma confirmed the existence of a reward system that offered police officers financial incentives for killing suspected drug criminals.
On Duterte’s instructions, Garma recommended Col. Edilberto Leonardo in 2016 to lead and coordinate the national anti-drug operations based on the so-called “Davao model” (referring to the summary executions of the Davao Death Squad (DDS)). For his part, Leonardo, currently a commissioner of the National Police Commission, confirmed the existence of the reward system in his testimony before the Quad-Committee. According to Garma’s testimony, Duterte’s office offered police officers up to 17,000 US dollars as a reward for killing a suspect. Senator Ronald dela Rosa, former police chief under Duterte, rejected the testimony of Garma and Leonardo as false. Former senator Leila de Lima also testified that her imprisonment under the former Duterte administration was due to a deliberate campaign of discredit.
Garma, former director general of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), is also suspected of ordering the murder of Wesley Barayuga, PCSO board secretary, to allegedly prevent possible corruption charges against her. Lieutenant Colonel Santie Mendoza told the Quad-Committee that Leonardo had instructed him in 2019 to plan Barayuga’s murder. After the crime in July 2020, Barayuga’s name was placed on a drug watch list by Mendoza to portray the murder as a drug-related homicide. Both Garma and Leonardo denied all allegations. Member of the House of Representatives, Robert Ace Barbers, urged the Philippine Department of Justice (DOJ) to immediately file complaints against the alleged masterminds of Barayuga’s murder without waiting for the final report of the Quad-Committee.
The Philippine Commission on Human Rights (CHR) announced on October 17, 2024, that it would support the Quad-Committee and submitted the findings of its 2022 report on human rights violations in the “war on drugs” to the committee. In a statement on October 3 the organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the Philippine government to initiate full prosecutions against those named in the Quad-Committee hearings as responsible for the “war on drugs.” On October 15, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. expressed his support for the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) intention to reinvestigate killings in the context of the former Duterte administration’s anti-drug campaign.
Rodrigo Duterte is expected to attend the Quad-Committee hearings in November 2024 after his lawyer announced on October 22 that Duterte had so far stayed away for health reasons. If he cancels again, the committee is considering a subpoena to compel his attendance.
Photo © Raffy Lerma