Interpol asked to arrest Garma over Barayuga slay case–NBI
The government has formally asked the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) to arrest retired police Col. Royina Garma for her alleged role in the assassination of a fellow state lottery official in 2020, when the Duterte administration’s war on drugs was under way.
Garma was last reported to be in Malaysia in September for talks with representatives of the International Criminal Court (ICC) as a potential witness against former President Rodrigo Duterte. This was shortly after her deportation from the United States.
“Yes, we have made the request,” Jaime Santiago, director of the National Bureau of Investigation, said in a Viber message to the Inquirer, confirming the agency’s request to the Interpol to issue a red notice for Garma after a Philippine court ordered her passport canceled.
A red notice is an international request for law enforcement agencies worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal proceedings.
Garma had been accused of masterminding the killing of Wesley Barayuga, alleging he was involved in illegal drugs. Barayuga was fatally shot by a motorcycle-riding gunman on July 30, 2020, in Mandaluyong City while being driven home. His driver survived the ambush.
‘Fugitives’
At the time, Garma was general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) while Barayuga was its board secretary. Duterte appointed Garma to the PCSO after she retired from the Philippine National Police.
On Oct. 15, the Mandaluyong City court issued a hold departure order against Garma and her coaccused, Police Lt. Col. Santie Mendoza, former National Police Commissioner and retired police officer Edilberto Leonardo, and dismissed police officers Nelson Mariano and Jeremy Causapin.
The court, where they face the nonbailable charges of murder and frustrated murder, also ordered the Department of Foreign Affairs to cancel their passports.
Based on the court order signed by Presiding Judge Gloria Monica Lopez, only Mendoza and Mariano were present during the arraignment and pretrial conference of the case.
The NBI launched an investigation into the killing of Barayuga, a former police brigadier general and a lawyer, but the case went cold for lack of evidence.
Four years later, in October 2024, Santiago revived the case after Mendoza made damning disclosures during a House inquiry into the links between illegal drugs, offshore gaming operations, and extrajudicial killings on Duterte’s watch.
Mendoza then testified that Leonardo contacted him several times between October 2019 and July 2020 about a “special operation” targeting Barayuga, supposedly a high-value target for his alleged links to illegal drugs.
He also alleged that Garma provided P300,000 to finance the operation.
