Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers (left), Royina Garma (Facebook)

"Basa na yang paa mo, maligo ka na (Your feet are wet already, go ahead and bathe)." 

This was the House quad-committee (quad-comm) chairman's advice to former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) general manager Royina Garma, who during the mega-panel's last hearing Friday, Oct. 11 shared what she knew on the alleged inner workings of the previous Duterte administration's bloody war on drugs. 

"Basa ka na (You're already wet)," overall chairman Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers told Garma, who essentially threw former president Rodrigo Duterte under the bus in her affidavit. 

What Barbers wants the ex-Duterte administration appointee to do is to go all the way with her revelations on the cash reward system and extrajudicial killings (EJKs), since she has already started spilling the beans anyway. 

Quad-comm co-chairman Manila 6th district Rep. Bienvenido "Benny" Abante Jr. agreed with the congressman from Mindanao. 

"This is just the beginning of a deeper inquiry into a more alarming issue: the alleged participation of higher officials in EJKs. There is much more to uncover, and we are committed to getting to the bottom of these serious allegations," he said. 

Abante vowed that the quad-comm “will not stop until all the facts are laid bare because this is about accountability, from the lowest office to the highest post". 

“As she (Garma) has declared, the truth will set her free. We welcome such a declaration, and we hope she would begin to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. She should not cover up the sins of her former superiors, the former president included,” he stressed. 

Last Friday, Garma accused Duterte of spearheading a nationwide, cash reward-driven system during his administration's war on drugs, similar to what allegedly took place in Davao City.  

Garma bared that he recommended to Duterte retired colonel and National Police Commission (Napolcom) commissioner Edilberto Leonardo as the implementer of this alleged "Davao model". 

Like Garma, Leonardo is also a resource person in the ongoing quad-comm hearings. 

Barayuga case 

Barbers says he is personally is interested in knowing is if the supposed directive to assassinate retired police general and PCSO board secretary Wesley Barayuga in July 2020 came from Garma or from Duterte. 

READ THIS: 

https://mb.com.ph/2024/10/13/garma-s-revelations-on-Duterte-drug-war


He said that as of now, Leonardo's testimony points to Garma as the individual who ordered the “operation” on Barayuga and his inclusion on the Duterte administration's narco-list. 

Leonardo and Garma are graduates of the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA). 

A PNPA junior graduate, Lt. Col. Santie Mendoza, ealier testified before the quad-comm that Leonardo asked him to look for a hitman that would carry out Barayuga's assassination. He also claimed that Garma funded the entire plan. 

Barbers added that since Garma denied any hand in Barayuga’s murder, “she should reveal who ordered it.” 

“She should also tell us what she knows about the murder of three Chinese drug lords inside the Davao prison in August 2016. She has been implicated by at least three witnesses,” pointed out the overall quad-comm chairman. 

Garma also claimed in her affidavit that Leonardo decided whose name would be placed on the narco-list or removed from it.