This is their chance

After the revelation that Royina Garma, former Davao police officer, former PNP chief in Cebu, and former general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) was allegedly involved in the killing of PCSO board Secretary Wesley Barayuga in July 2020, she is now singing like a canary. In the ongoing Senate hearing, she executed her affidavit implicating former president Rodrigo Duterte in the extrajudicial killings during his administration. According to Garma, the PNP has a reward system that is said to be adapted from the "Davao model" where everyone killed in Duterte's drug war has an equivalent monetary reward, depending on how significant the suspect is. The amount ranges from ?20,000 to ?1 million.

Garma has also implicated the former PNP chief and now Sen. Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa and Sen. Bong Go in Duterte's said drug war. Dela Rosa and Go were the closest to Duterte at that time, until now. The bloodiest campaign against illegal drugs was under the leadership of Dela Rosa. The word "nanlaban" became the go-to justification for killing drug suspects. Police Lt. Col. Jovie Espenido seconded Garma’s revelation. Espenido led the operation against the Parojinog Family in 2017 where 16 people were killed. Espenido claims the bounty system existed and was well-known in the PNP.

As expected, Dela Rosa and Go vehemently denied the allegations against them. Garma also denied her participation in killing Barayuga. They all claim innocence. In reality, people suspected the existence of a reward system in the PNP since the start of the bloody campaign under Duterte’s administration. I remember the cases of Kian delos Santos, Carl Arnaiz, and Reynaldo de Guzman. The police killed them in separate incidents because they were allegedly involved in drugs and fought back. But after investigations, four policemen were sentenced to life imprisonment for killing the three innocent victims. With all the revelations of a reward system for killing drug suspects, I wonder if they would be willing to testify that it did exist. What have they got to lose?

Time passes as the world turns. Rodrigo Duterte is no longer in power. Those who had his ear are now providing damning revelations. If their statements are true, they can only be proven when cases are filed. Right now, their testimonies are only being noted in the Senate. Will more people be coming forward to corroborate what has already been said? This is their chance.