Panel calls for charges in Barayuga slay case
HOUSE quad committee chairman and Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers has called on the Department of Justice (DoJ) to file murder charges against Royina Garma and Edilberto Leonardo for the ambush of retired police general Wesley Barayuga. In a statement, Barbers said they were in "close coordination" with the DoJ through their representatives, who were monitoring their hearings as they were "unearthing evidence of criminal activities and other acts of wrongdoing in the course of our inquiry." He added that the DoJ should have interviewed the two witnesses last Friday, Lt. Col. Santie Mendoza of the Philippine National Police Drug Enforcement Group and his drug informant Nelson Mariano, and assessed their testimonies. Mendoza revealed in the quadcomm's hearing on Friday that Garma and Leonardo, former PNP officials, masterminded the killing of Barayuga in 2020 due to alleged drug links, which the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) denied. He told the committee that in 2019, Leonardo, upon the orders of Garma, asked him to "operate" on a target, who was later identified as Barayuga. Barbers, who chairs the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs, said the DoJ should take cognizance of the testimonies of Mendoza and Mariano and their affidavits and file murder charges against Garma, a former general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, and Leonardo, who is currently a commissioner of the National Police Commission. "They do not have to wait for the [final] report of the joint committee, which will include a recommendation to file such charges. The panel will take time to write the report since the inquiry is still ongoing," Barbers said. He added that the DoJ should ask Mendoza and Mariano to submit their mobile phone evidence linking Garma and Leonardo to Barayuga's assassination. "The exchange of messages via Viber and the supposed photo of Barayuga taken by Garma during their PCSO meeting will strengthen the case against Garma and Leonardo," Barbers said. During the hearing on Friday, Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop said Barayuga was killed because he opposed Garma's desire to expand the small-town lottery operations of the PCSO, including the grant of STL franchises to friends of Garma and police officers close to then-president Rodrigo Duterte. "That was the real motive. They just made it appear that Barayuga was involved in drugs. He was a victim of the war on drugs. He was a simple man. He rode public transportation and brought his 'baon' to his office," Acop had said. Meanwhile, Barbers assured the family of Barayuga that the panel would leave no stone unturned to resolve the case and put behind bars the masterminds and perpetrators of his murder four years ago. He also thanked Barayuga's widow, Sarah, for placing the family's trust in the quadcomm panel's legislative inquiry and for reopening and reinvestigating the case with new witnesses who could shed light behind the plot to kill him. "We promise to the family of Wesley Barayuga that we will do everything to make accountable and punish those who are behind his death," Barbers said in Filipino.
Tomas Kauer - Moderator 
HOUSE quad committee chairman and Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers has called on the Department of Justice (DoJ) to file murder charges against Royina Garma and Edilberto Leonardo for the ambush of retired police general Wesley Barayuga.
In a statement, Barbers said they were in "close coordination" with the DoJ through their representatives, who were monitoring their hearings as they were "unearthing evidence of criminal activities and other acts of wrongdoing in the course of our inquiry."
He added that the DoJ should have interviewed the two witnesses last Friday, Lt. Col. Santie Mendoza of the Philippine National Police Drug Enforcement Group and his drug informant Nelson Mariano, and assessed their testimonies.
Mendoza revealed in the quadcomm's hearing on Friday that Garma and Leonardo, former PNP officials, masterminded the killing of Barayuga in 2020 due to alleged drug links, which the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) denied.
He told the committee that in 2019, Leonardo, upon the orders of Garma, asked him to "operate" on a target, who was later identified as Barayuga.
Barbers, who chairs the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs, said the DoJ should take cognizance of the testimonies of Mendoza and Mariano and their affidavits and file murder charges against Garma, a former general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, and Leonardo, who is currently a commissioner of the National Police Commission.
"They do not have to wait for the [final] report of the joint committee, which will include a recommendation to file such charges. The panel will take time to write the report since the inquiry is still ongoing," Barbers said.
He added that the DoJ should ask Mendoza and Mariano to submit their mobile phone evidence linking Garma and Leonardo to Barayuga's assassination.
"The exchange of messages via Viber and the supposed photo of Barayuga taken by Garma during their PCSO meeting will strengthen the case against Garma and Leonardo," Barbers said.
During the hearing on Friday, Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop said Barayuga was killed because he opposed Garma's desire to expand the small-town lottery operations of the PCSO, including the grant of STL franchises to friends of Garma and police officers close to then-president Rodrigo Duterte.
"That was the real motive. They just made it appear that Barayuga was involved in drugs. He was a victim of the war on drugs. He was a simple man. He rode public transportation and brought his 'baon' to his office," Acop had said.
Meanwhile, Barbers assured the family of Barayuga that the panel would leave no stone unturned to resolve the case and put behind bars the masterminds and perpetrators of his murder four years ago.
He also thanked Barayuga's widow, Sarah, for placing the family's trust in the quadcomm panel's legislative inquiry and for reopening and reinvestigating the case with new witnesses who could shed light behind the plot to kill him.
"We promise to the family of Wesley Barayuga that we will do everything to make accountable and punish those who are behind his death," Barbers said in Filipino.
