Garma agrees to testify against Duterte before ICC

Royina Garma, former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office general manager and retired police colonel. (Photo: House of Representatives of the Philippines/Facebook)

By Benjamin Pulta, Philippine News Agency

MANILA – Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on Monday confirmed that former Philippine Charity and Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) general manager Royina Garma has agreed to be a witness for the prosecution against former president Rodrigo R. Duterte before the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Remulla said Garma flew to Malaysia as a tourist shortly after arriving in the Philippines on Sunday night. She was deported from the United States, which turned down her request for political asylum.

“A few days ago, we got word that she was on the way home and we waited for her arrival. And since she has no warrant of arrest pending yet, so she’s just a subject of an ILBO (immigration lookout bulletin order),” Remulla told reporters.

“Given that and the fact that she’s going to Malaysia to meet with the ICC, it gave us reason to say okay because if she’s going to be a witness to the ICC, we have said that our working relationship with the ICC involves witness protection.”

Remulla said the best way to protect Garma, also a former police colonel, is for her to meet with ICC officials abroad “because her life can be in danger in our country.”

“Let’s face it, uniformed personnel ang kalaban (our adversaries are uniformed personnel),” he said.

During last year’s hearings of the House of Representatives quad Committee on the Duterte drug war, 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 refers to a “system involving payments and rewards.”

Remulla said former senator Antonio Trillanes IV facilitated Garma’s talks with the ICC, which will hold a confirmation hearing on the charges against Duterte later this month.

“I’ve been working with Trillanes because we have no real official relationship with the ICC except for that fact that we protect the witnesses who are here who may be the subject of an ICC request. Because we have to protect our witnesses and these people are the complainants from here, the witnesses are from here, so it’s just right that the DOJ protects the citizens who may be inclined to testify,” he said.

Remulla, however, said Garma’s cooperation does not preclude holding her responsible for other cases where she has been implicated.

In February, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) filed murder and frustrated murder charges against Garma for her alleged involvement in the 2020 death of PCSO board secretary Wesley Barayuga.

“Because the testimony in the ICC is very important. The Wesley Barayuga case is equally important. It cannot go unnoticed and unserved. So, we will cross the bridge when we get there. She will be testifying here also. She has a commitment to testify,” Remulla said.