Ex-PNP colonel who testified on drug war back from US
Retired police colonel and former state lottery official Royina Garma returned to the country on Saturday from the United States, where she had applied for asylum, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said.
Before leaving the country in November last year, Garma became a key witness in the congressional inquiry into the drug war killings during the Duterte administration.
But she was also linked to the 2020 ambush that killed the board secretary of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office during her stint as general manager. She was also implicated in the killing of three convicted Chinese drug lords at the Davao prison in 2016, when she was still in the police force.
BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval said Garma arrived under escort at Ninoy Aquino International Airport from Los Angeles via Philippine Airlines at 6:15 p.m. on Saturday.
At the House hearings, Garma was forced to reveal a “reward system” for police officers who would carry out the deadly antinarcotics campaign of then President Rodrigo Duterte.
Her testimonies were reportedly included later in the evidence against Duterte before the International Criminal Court at The Hague, The Netherlands, where the ex-president has been detained since March on charges of crimes against humanity.
