Ex-top cop tagged in 2016 murder of Chinese natl's, detained in House

A former top police officer accused of orchestrating the murders of three alleged Chinese drug lords in 2016 has been cited in contempt by a congressional panel investigating alleged extrajudicial killings during the Duterte administration.

Retired police Colonel Royina Garma was ordered detained in the House of Representatives until the committee concludes its probe. The contempt order follows Garma's evasive and unclear responses to lawmakers' questions about her relationship with former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Abang Lingkod Rep. Joseph Stephen Paduano, co-chair of the panel, questioned Garma about her closeness with Duterte, particularly noting her swift appointment as head of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) in 2019, shortly after retiring from the police force in 2018.

Paduano highlighted that, despite numerous applications, Garma obtained the coveted PCSO position in record time. However, Garma maintained that she applied for the position through proper channels.

The investigation revealed that Garma held several police posts in Davao City, including station commander of Sasa and Sta. Ana, head of the Women's Desk of the Davao City Police, and a police administration officer at the Davao City police station. She was also the deputy chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and the police chief of Cebu City during the height of Duterte's anti-drug campaign.

"I will ask you: Are you special and close to the President or former President? Yes or no? No personal? Yes or no?" Paduano pressed.

"Mr. Chair, I'm not close [with the former president]. I was even in a floating status during his time," Garma said in Filipino, referring to a period when she was temporarily without a position during Duterte's tenure as mayor of Davao City.

Duterte served as Davao mayor for over 22 years before winning the presidency in May 2016.

Paduano, however, was not satisfied with Garma's explanation, pointing to her series of high-profile assignments following that period.

"But after that, all your positions are juicy. You even moved around in Davao. You cannot be deployed as CIDG (Criminal Investigation and Detection Group) in Region 7 if you're not close to the President," he asserted.

Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro said, "What is clear, Colonel, is that the former President has great confidence in you."

"In other words, Mr. Chair, I wish to state that the reason why almost the entirety of Col. Garma's career in the PNP was spent in Davao, why she was appointed as city director in Cebu City, and why she was appointed as PCSO General Manager is that former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte trusted her," Luistro added.

The panel summoned Garma after she was implicated by three persons deprived of liberty—Leopoldo Tan, Fernando "Andy" Magdadaro, and Jimmy Fortaleza—who alleged that they were ordered to silence Chu Kin Tung, Jackson Lee, and Peter Wang at Duterte's directive.

In affidavits submitted earlier to the panel, Tan and Magdadaro detailed that they stabbed the three Chinese nationals to death inside the Davao Prison and Penal Farm Disciplinary Dormitory, or "bartolina," on the evening of 13 August 2016, in exchange for P1 million each and their freedom, as guaranteed by the police.

Former DPPF warden Supt. Gerardo Padilla and Garma's classmate at the Philippine National Police Academy, former policeman Jimmy Fortaleza, also implicated her in the murders.