Garma, 4 others ordered arrested over PCSO exec’s killing

Former Philippine Charity and Sweepstakes Office general manager Royina Garma. (PNA file photo)

By Christopher Lloyd Caliwan, Philippine News Agency

MANILA – Former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) general manager and retired police colonel Royina Garma and four others have been ordered arrested over the killing of PCSO board secretary Wesley Barayuga in July 2020, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said on Monday.

In a press briefing held at Camp Crame in Quezon City, PNP spokesperson and information chief Brig. Gen. Randulf Tuaño said the Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court Branch 279 issued a warrant of arrest dated Sept. 13, 2025 against Garma, Lt. Col. Santie Mendoza, retired police colonel Edilberto Leonardo, and dismissed police officers Nelson Enriquez Mariano and Jeremy Causapin (alias Toks) for murder and frustrated murder charges with no bail recommended.

PNP acting chief Lt. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez has ordered the implementation of the warrant.

“Ang marching orders ng ating chief PNP, ang sabi niya justice for all, meaning ang kautusan niya po sa CIDG (Criminal Investigation and Detection Group) at sa lahat ng miyembro ng (The marching orders of our PNP chief is justice for all, meaning his order to the CIDG and to all members of the) Philippine National Police — implement all warrants of arrest regardless of the case,” Tuaño said.

He said Mendoza is currently on floating status under the custody of the Directorate for Personnel and Records Management – Personnel Holding and Accounting Unit.

Tuaño said they have yet to get information on Garma and the other accused’s whereabouts.

Early this month, Garma flew to Malaysia as a tourist shortly after arriving in the Philippines. She was deported from the United States, which turned down her request for political asylum.

Garma has agreed to be a witness for the prosecution against former president Rodrigo R. Duterte before the International Criminal Court.

In February, the National Bureau of Investigation filed murder and frustrated murder charges against Garma for her alleged involvement in the 2020 death of Barayuga.

It was Mendoza who tagged Garma and Leonardo as the brains behind the killing during a congressional inquiry related to the drug war of Duterte.

Garma claimed that the former president asked her to look for an officer to implement the “Davao model” of the drug war on a national scale.

Garma said the Davao model referred to a “system involving payments and rewards.”