Senator Christopher "Bong" Go (left), Royina Garma (Facebook)

The House quad-committee (quad-comm) uncovered the significant role that Senator Christopher “Bong” Go allegedly had in the appointment of retired police colonel Royina Garma to a juicy position in the previous Duterte administration. 

Garma, who has been tagged as the "director" in the killing of three Chinese drug lords within the Davao Prison and Penal Farm (DPPF) in August 2016, became Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) general manager after her career in law enforcement. 

House Assistant Majority Leader Taguig City 2nd district Rep. Pammy Zamora questioned Garma about the process of her application to the PCSO, given that her appointment there had raised a lot of eyebrows. 

“I submitted my application... to now Senato Bong Go. I wrote a letter addressed to the President applying for the position,” Garma told Zamora during for latter’s interpellation in the previous quad-comm hearing. 

Zamora probed into Garma’s relationship with Go, and asked if she knew him personally. Before being elected as senator in 2019, Go served as special assistant to then-president Rodrigo Duterte.  

“Lahat po ng police sa Davao kilala si Senator Bong Go…Wala pong police na hindi nakakakilala sa kanya, lalo na po officers,” Garma answered. 

(All of the police in Davao know Senator Bong Go...There's no police who don't know him, especially the officers.) 

Her response highlighted the deep familiarity law enforcement officials in Davao had with Go, largely due to his close association with Duterte. 

Garma shared that after submitting her application to Go, she was informed that the former President would review it. 

The quad-comm established that Garma gained her appointment at PCSO roughly 15 days after availing of early retirement from the Philippine National Police (PNP) 

She also confirmed to the solons that former president Duterte personally gave her instructions during her time as PCSO general manager. 

Garma was implicated by at least four quad-comm resource persons as the one who allegedly relayed instructions from former president Duterte to execute the three Chinese drug lords at the onset of the previous administration’s bloody war on illegal drugs. 

The DPFF killings of the Chinese prisoners, as corroborated by several witnesses, are cited by the quad-comm as evidence of the widespread extrajudicial killings (EJKs) linked to Duterte’s anti-drug campaign. 

It wasn't the first time Go's name came up during the probe of the special four-way panel. 

In a previous hearing, Lt. Col. Jovie Espenido, known as the "poster boy" of Duterte's drug war, claimed that the cash rewards given to cops who killed drug suspects allegedly came from Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) and government intelligence funds. 

Espenido admitted that police officers benefited from a reward and quota system during Duterte’s administration, with a P20,000 reward "per kill". 

He claimed the funds were allegedly funneled "downward from the level of Bong Go" and sourced from POGOs, government intelligence, and small-town lottery or "jueteng" operators.