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Garma says they were instructed by Duterte to give reward for drug war killings, which was patterned after the ‘Davao Model’
MANILA, Philippines – Retired police colonel Royina Garma directly implicated former president Rodrigo Duterte in the extrajudicial killings committed by the police under his administration’s bloody anti-narcotics campaign.
In tears, Garma said that Duterte called her to a meeting in May 2016, in which she was told “he needed someone capable of implementing the war on drugs on a national scale, replicating the Davao model.”
“This ‘Davao model’ referred to the system involving payment and rewards,” Garma, a former Cebu City police chief, said in her affidavit, which she read during the eighth quad committee hearing in the House of Representatives on Friday, October 11.
Garma, the Davao City-bred former general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), said that the ‘Davao model’ involves three payment levels:
- first, the reward if the suspect is killed;
- second, the funding of planned operations;
- third, refund of operational expenses.
Garma added that she recalled her upperclassman, retired police colonel and current National Police Commission commissioner Edilberto Leonardo, as the perfect fit for Duterte’s request. She said she had learned that Leonardo was summoned by Duterte through another cop Arthur Narsolis.
Garma said she was told by Leonardo that he was directed by the former president to organize a task force encompassing the whole Philippines.
Garma added that Leonardo also had a proposal “routed through Bong Go, outlining the task force’s operations.”
“Leonardo conducted briefings for all PDEA (Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency), IG (Intelligence Groups), Regional Directors, and PNP Chiefs regarding operations. Additionally, if any individual died during police operations, Leonardo reported the incident to Bong Go for inclusion in his weekly report and requests for refunds of operational expenses,” Garma said.
“Leonardo had the final authority to determine who would be included on the list of drug personalities and to classify their threat levels, as well as the discretion to remove individuals from the list,” she added.
Garma’s testimony “shocked” some lawmakers, said Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales and public order and safety committee chair Dan Fernandez.
They wanted Garma to state more clearly that she was not forced by the quad committee to execute the affidavit.
“Wala pong [pumilit] (No one coerced me), it took me one week to make some reflections. I realized that the truth will always set us free,” said Garma.
Garma confirmed not only the killings in Davao City under Duterte’s leadership, but also how the president brought these killings on a national scale.
The former cop is a retired police colonel known for her close ties with Duterte. She was also alleged to be a member of the Davao Death Squad (DDS), which supposedly took kill orders from the former Davao City mayor-turned-president.
The affidavit also corroborates some of the contents of the testimony of self-confessed DDS hitman Arturo Lascañas, who has already been given limited immunity by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Lascañas said that the DDS was conceptualized around 1988, with the squad being named as the “anti-crime task force.” It eventually became the Presidential Anti Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) which had a satellite office in Davao City headed in 1999 by Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, which was then a police officer. Garma said that Leonardo told her Duterte “directed him to organize a task force similar to the PAOCTF.”
In Lascañas’ affidavit, he lists Garma as among “the individuals directly and indirectly connected with the DDS.”
Garma and Leonardo are at the center of the House probe due to their alleged involvement in the crimes, including the killing of three Chinese drug lords in Davao in 2016. They are also implicated in the assassination of former PCSO board secretary Wesley Barayuga in 2020. – Rappler.com
