De Leon, Co say police general offered to tell on EJKs, war on drugs

Police Major General Romeo Caramat Jr. offered to reveal what he knows about extrajudicial killings and the war on drugs in exchange for being appointed chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Thus said National Intelligence Coordinating Agency director general Ricardo de Leon and Ako Bicol Representative Zaldy Co in separate statements denying Senator Ronald dela Rosa's claims.

Dela Rosa on Wednesday said he had information that De Leon and former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV supposedly asked police officials to execute affidavits implicating him and former President Rodrigo Duterte in connection with the killings blamed on the war on drugs.

The former PNP chief said De Leon and Trillanes did this in separate meetings with the police officers in the presence of Speaker Martin Romualdez and Co.

“I categorically deny allegations by Senator Bato dela Rosa that I, together with Speaker Martin Romualdez and other personalities, pressured certain police officials to testify against him (dela Rosa) and former president Rodrigo Duterte before the International Criminal Court (ICC),” said De Leon in a statement on Thursday. 

“I also deny the allegation of Sen. Bato dela Rosa that I have discussed with former chief PNP General Oscar D. Albayalde and PBGen Eleazar P. Matta to testify in the ICC,” he added.

Caramat was former head of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

De Leon said that upon Caramat's request, he accompanied him to see Romualdez "because he wanted to express his interest to be appointed the next PNP chief."

“During our conversation, he (Caramat) offered to disclose everything he knew about extrajudicial killings (EJK) and the drug war, including the list of names targeted for killing, weekly quotas, and the payment process involved in exchange for the top PNP post," De Leon said.

But De Leon said that Romualdez told Caramat that the appointment of the PNP chief depends on the president. 

“The Speaker also rejected Caramat's offer to disclose information in exchange for his appointment,” he added. 

GMA News Online reached out to Caramat for comment, but has yet to respond. 

In his statement, Co said he first met Caramat in 2023, who at that time "was asking for my endorsement to be chief PNP."

The second time he met Caramat was at the townhouse of Romualdez.

"From the conversation, I heard that he (Caramat) was willing to tell everything he knows about EJKs in exchange for his appointment as chief PNP.  This was flatly rejected by Speaker Romualdez," Co said.

"There was never any mention of testifying against anyone before the ICC," he added.

Dela Rosa said earlier in the day that he had an “A-1 information” that Trillanes and De Leon, in the presence of Romualdez and Co, asked the past police officials to execute affidavits to implicate him and the former president.

Based on government records, over 6,000 drug suspects were killed during the Duterte administration’s anti-illegal drug operations. —NB/LDF, GMA Integrated News

Human rights organizations, however, say that the number may reach 30,000 due to the unreported related deaths.