MANILA, Philippines — A police lieutenant colonel on Friday, September 27, testified that retired police chief Royina Garma and national police commissioner Edilberto Leonardo orchestrated the assassination of retired police general Wesley Barayuga in 2020.
During the House quadcom’s seventh public hearing, police officer Santie Mendoza could not hold back tears when he confessed to lawmakers that he participated in the killing of Barayuga.
Mendoza is currently working at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Drug Enforcement Group Headquarters. In 2019, he was a police major assigned to the Deputy Chief PNP for Administration.
According to Mendoza’s sworn statement, it was Garma and Leonardo — his upperclassmen at the PNP Academy — who ordered him to find a hitman to kill Barayuga as early as 2019, citing his alleged involvement in illegal drug activities as the motive.
“I received a call from Police Colonel Edilberto Leonardo, who informed me that he had a special project involving a high-value individual suspected of being involved in illegal drug activities,” Mendoza said in Filipino.
Mendoza said that he, along with three others identified as Nelson Mariano, “Loloy” and “Toks,” carried out the operation to kill Barayuga in July 2020.
After completing the operation, Mendoza stated that Leonardo informed him of a P300,000 cash reward from Garma. The amount was split between Mendoza, Loloy and Mariano, with Mendoza receiving P40,000.
Mendoza explained that it was Toks, a subordinate of Garma, who handed them the cash incentive.
Who are Barayuga, Garma and Leonardo?
At the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), Barayuga, a lawyer and retired police general, served as the agency’s board secretary during the time Garma was its general manager.
Former president Rodrigo Duterte appointed Garma as PCSO’s general manager in 2019.
Before this, Garma was assigned as Cebu City’s police chief in 2018 after leading the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) in Davao City.
Former Cebu City mayor Tommy Osmeña, who carried with him a PCSO report at the previous public hearing, said that Garma received P1 million weekly from illegal gambling.
Leonardo was also appointed by Duterte in February 2022 to be a commissioner at the National Police Commission (Napolcom). He previously served as the country’s environment secretary.
Both Garma and Leonardo continue to deny the claims made against them that they were behind many extrajudicial killings, including the alleged Chinese drug lords who were stabbed to death by inmates in 2016.
RELATED: Rodrigo Duterte ordered 2016 killings of alleged Chinese drug lords — witnesses
How the killing went down
Mendoza said that Leonardo approached him again in 2020 about the “special project,” suggesting that the operation could benefit Mendoza’s career.
It was also during this year that Leonardo informed him of the target, which is Barayuga, whom the Napolcom commissioner said was a government official who had ties with illegal drug operations.
Since he was not provided with concrete proof, Mendoza wanted to verify whether Barayuga truly was involved with illegal drugs.
But Leonardo stopped him, saying that it was no longer necessary because the order came from Garma who allegedly knew about Barayuga’s activities with illegal drugs.
Out of fear for his and his family’s lives, Mendoza said he felt pressured to follow through with their orders because Garma and Leonardo were government officials closely associated with former President Rodrigo Duterte.
“It’s common knowledge among us operatives that when you mention Colonel Leonardo and Ma’am Royina Garma, they are close to the former president,” Mendoza told lawmakers in Filipino.
He added that even before the quadcom’s hearings, rumors among police officials had already circulated about how Garma and Leonardo conspired to kill the three Chinese nationals in Davao Prison.
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Upon accepting the project, Mendoza said he reached out to Mariano to inquire if he could recommend a hitman, as Mariano had previously been his informant on drug personalities.
At that point, Mariano and his hired gunman Loloy cooperated with Toks to kill Barayuga. Mendoza said Toks, acting under the orders of Garma and Leonardo, provided information about how they would identify Barayuga.
That fateful day. On July 30, 2020, Mendoza said he received a picture of Barayuga and the go-signal from Leonardo to proceed with the killing. The photo showed Barayuga in a board meeting with PCSO, which was said to be captured by Garma.
The police officer said that Leonardo assured him the operation would proceed smoothly because Garma had provided Barayuga with a service vehicle after leaving the PCSO building.
“He said that we could take out Wesley Barayuga after he left the building. I passed all this information to Nelson Mariano,” Mendoza said in Filipino.
At 4 p.m. that day, while on his way home in a van, Barayuga was shot four times at close range by two gunmen on separate motorbikes at the intersection of Calbayog and Malinaw streets in Barangay Highway Hills, Mandaluyong City.
When Garma was asked about her reaction when she found out about Barayuga’s killing, she said she was only “surprised.” Leonardo, on the other hand, was cited in contempt for still “lying” and is now detained at the House of Representatives.
The House joint committee has been investigating the drug-related extrajudicial killings and illegal offshore gaming operators during the Duterte administration.
