A criminal complaint has been filed against six persons before the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday, Feb. 3, over their alleged involvement in the 2020 killing of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) board secretary and retired police general Wesley Barayuga.
The respondents named in the complaint were former PCSO general manager and retired police colonel Royina Marzan Garma, retired police colonel Edilberto Dela Cruz Leonardo, Police Lt.Col. Santie Fuentes Mendoza, PSMS Jeremy Zapata Causapin, Nelson Enriquez Mariano, and a certain alias "Loloy."
Under the complaint, all six respondents were accused of having committed murder and frustrated murder under the Revised Penal Code (RPC), as amended, in connection with the 2020 killing of Barayuga, and for the injuries sustained by the victim's driver Jun Gunao.
The National Bureau of Investigation-Organized and Transnational Crime Division (NBI-AOTCD) and the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) filed the complaint following investigation on the revelations made during the House of Representatives quad committee hearings last year.
“On Sept. 27, 2024, during the House of Representatives’ Quad Committee, Police Lieutenant Colonel Santie F. Mendoza and his informant police officer Nelson E. Mariano confessed to their involvement in the incident and disclosed the alleged mastermind behind the assassination plot,” the complaint stated.
Mendoza and Mariano revealed during the quad com hearings that Garma and Leonardo were behind the plot to kill Barayuga, it also stated.
Barayuga was on his way home aboard his vehicle when he was shot by a lone assailant in Mandaluyong City on July 30, 2020. His driver, Gunao, was hurt during the shooting.
“The incident had previously been investigated by both the NBI and PNP,” the complaint noted.
“However, due to unavailability of material witnesses capable of identifying the suspects of persons of interest, the case remained unresolved for more than four years,” it stated.
It pointed out tht with the revelations made during the quad com hearings, the complaint stated that a case build-up was conducted “aimed at filing appropriate charges in relation to the murder of former PCSO Board Secretary Atty. Wesley Barayuga.”
The complaint recommended to the DOJ that Mendoza and Mariano be placed as state witnesses due to their “admissions during the House of Representatives Quad Committee hearing, which are corroborated by the findings of the joint investigation conducted by the NBI-OTCD and PNP-CIDG.”
Among the respondents, Garma managed to flee to the United States in November last year. She has not returned to the Philippines.