DOJ to coordinate with PNP to open probe vs. Garma

The Department of Justice (DOJ) will coordinate with the Philippine National Police (PNP) for the investigation against retired police Colonels Royina Garma and Edilberto Leonardo over the assassination of former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) board secretary Wesley Barayuga.

“Kami talaga makikipag ugnayan kami mismo sa PNP-CIDG upang malaman, upang mabukas muli ang imbestigasyon na ito,” Justice Undersecretary Nicky Ty said on Super Radyo dzBB.

(We will coordinate with the PNP-CIDG to find out the truth and reopen the investigation.)

This move comes after House Quad Committee (QuadComm) lead chairperson and Surigao del Norte representative Ace Barbers called on the DO to file murder charges against Garma and Leonardo.

Barbers made the call in light of the testimonies by Police Lieutenant Colonel Santie Mendoza of the Philippine National Police Drug Enforcement Group (PNP-PDEG) and police informant Nelson Mariano.

The two accused then PCSO General Manager Garma and then Napolcom commissioner Leonardo of ordering the kill job on Barayuga over the latter's supposed links to the drug trade, which turned out to be a disagreement over PCSO game Perya ng Bayan.

According to Ty, the testimonies of the two witnesses presented in the hearing seemingly carried a lot of weight.

“Mabigat talaga ‘yung masasabi nila, ano? So mabuti talagang maumpisahan na ‘yung imbestigasyon dahil matagal na. Matagal nang nangyari itong pag papaslang kay Barayuga, 2020 pa,” he said.

(What they may say may carry a lot of weight. So the investigation should be started because it's been a long time. The murder of Barayuga happened a long time ago, back in 2020.)

“So kailangan namin maungkat ‘yung mga imbestigasyon dito, kung may imbestigasyon man ginawa ‘yung PNP dati. Kailangan natin maungkat ito at ma connect ito doon sa mga testimonya na dalawang prinesente sa QuadComm,” he added.

(We need to reopen the investigations, if the PNP conducted any investigations. We need to revive this and connect it to the two testimonies presented at QuadComm.)

--VAL, GMA Integrate News