The House quad committee will look into whether the Duterte administration tapped its intelligence funds to finance the so-called cash reward system in the police for killing drug syndicates with amounts reaching as high as P1 million.

In an interview on Tuesday, Santa Rosa Rep. Dan Fernandez, a co-chair of the panel, cited retired police colonel Royina Garma's testimony that some Malacañang officials, including former Senator Christopher Lawrence "Bong" Go, who was then special assistant to former president Rodrigo Duterte, had a hand in the brutal drug war. 

"That [need for a possible investigation] only came out when Royina Garma said that the money was coming from Malacañang. If the funds came from Malacañang and this is a police operation, it will come from the intel fund," Fernandez told reporters.

Garma told the quadcomm on Friday that Go was involved in overseeing Duterte's anti-drug operations. 

She claimed that then-Police Lt. Col. Edilberto Leonardo would report all fatalities from police operations to Go so that the latter would include it in his weekly report and request to refund operational expenses.

Garma alleged that the monetary rewards for drug-related killings ranged from P20,000 to P1 million, depending on the target.

Go has repeatedly denied involvement in drug war operations. He dismissed Garma's allegations as "malicious" and "unsubstantiated."

Fernandez said the quadcomm is keen to determine whether the previous administration sourced the funds from its intel expenses, given that it was merely intended for police and military operations.

He also noted that there were also fluctuations in the use of intelligence funds within specific months.

"We're pretty sure it came from the intel fund [of the President].  That is what we are looking at right now," he stated. 

"It appears a huge chunk of intel funds was used. That is what we need to investigate because with intel funds, whether of the local government units or even the Office of the President, the liquidation process is not so strict," he added.

Liquidation of intelligence funds could be audited, but such findings could not be publicized. 

Payout scheme

During the previous hearing, Police Lt. Col. Jovie Espenido, who used to be the drug war's poster boy, confirmed kill orders, quotas, and a scheme of payouts for killing drug suspects.

Espenido previously said millions in rewards "flowed from the level of Sen. Bong Go, a close aide of former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte." 

Quad comm leading chair, Rep. Ace Barbers, supported his co-chair Fernandez's view, citing Espenido's earlier statement that the reward system was funded by money from jueteng and other illegal gambling activities, small-town lottery operations (STL), and the infamous Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO). 

"Our impression is that the intelligence funds came from the Office of the President and the PNP. When these funds are audited, we will find out who is telling the truth or lying: Senator Bato and Senator Bong Go, or Garma and Espenido," Barbers lamented.

As for the case of money from POGO, jueteng, and STL operators, Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr., also co-chair of the panel, pointed out that it is evident that "these funds indeed flowed from the top."

Abante highlighted that testimony establishes that in 2016, Senator Ronald "Bato" de la Rosa and Go were seen in Duterte's meeting with senior police officers, including Garma and Leonardo.

According to Abante, witnesses said that "the Davao City EJK template and reward system were discussed during the meeting. 

"A few weeks later, the assassination of drug suspects in police operations and by riding-in-tandem hired guns started. It is not difficult to connect the dots," he stressed. 

Garma left lawmakers surprised by changing her tune and implicated former boss Duterte and allies in ordering police to mimic the so-called "Davao model," a system rewarding police for killing drug suspects on a national scale. 

She disclosed that an assembly was held in May 2016, a month before Duterte took office, to discuss the creation of a task force that would implement the nationwide killing.

Garma claimed Duterte wanted a police officer who is a member of Iglesia Ni Cristo to spearhead the special task force. As a result, she recommended Leonardo, who was then assigned to the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group. 

Leonardo, who is being linked as the brain behind the ambush plot of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office board secretary Wesley Barayuga in July 2020, allegedly in cahoots with ex-PCSO general manager Garma, resigned from his post as chief of the National Police Commission last week.

 

Protect EJK witness

House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan, meanwhile, urged the government to provide “adequate protection and security” to resource persons or key witnesses in the ongoing EJK probe, including Garma and former convict and self-confessed drug user Kerwin Espinosa. 

“In fact, the provision of protective services to witnesses might even encourage, if not embolden, other individuals to come forward and cooperate in the investigation,” said Libanan, a lawyer.

“There’s no question that witnesses such as retired police colonel Royina Garma and alleged drug trafficker Kerwin Espinosa, and their loved ones, are now extremely vulnerable to potential reprisals, given that they have offered damning sworn statements against highly influential people,”  the lawmaker added.

Espinosa, who was instrumental in the arrest of then-sitting senator Leila de Lima, told the quadcomm that he was coerced by De la Rosa, Duterte’s chief of police, to incriminate De Lima in the narcotics trade in the National Bilibid Prison during her stint as Justice secretary. 

However, he recanted his allegations and claimed that she wrongfully accused De Lima out of fear for his life.

The ex-convict elaborated that De la Rosa intimidated him with a fate similar to that of his father, former Albuera, Leyte, mayor Rolando Espinosa, who was shot dead in his cell in November 2016 amid allegations of involvement in narcotics.

Espinosa’s allegations resulted in the six-year-long detention of De Lima.