In a span of 12 hours at the House of Representatives, Royina Garma cried twice before lawmakers who ordered her detention over contempt. As the House wrapped its hearing near midnight on September 13, Garma burst into tears, and pleaded to be allowed to come home to her daughter “who’s waiting for me.” 

“I wanted to answer the questions, Mr. Chair. I have a daughter waiting for me… I cannot leave her, Mr. Chair. She’s waiting for me,” Garma told lawmakers.

Former mayor Tommy Osmeña, under whom Garma served as city police chief in Cebu, faced the same lawmakers a week after and told journalists present: “She is vicious. Don’t let Garma’s tears fool you.”

After months of staging what is largely an anti-Rodrigo Duterte inquiry, the House — in the form of a quad committee — has finally found a solid link to the former president. Garma repeatedly denied enjoying any special connection to Duterte, although lawmakers want to establish that link even if it means digging into painful memories of her past marriage.

“For me, Mr. Chair, I don’t feel close and special [to the former president],” Garma said denying her closeness to Duterte.

Garma, after being appointed city police chief despite Osmeña’s opposition, became general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) in 2019. She applied even though there was no vacancy. She got the job. Garma maintained it was a run-of-the-mill application, nothing out of the ordinary.

No ordinary woman

But Garma is no ordinary woman. In Cebu, she gained notoriety as the police chief under whose command the city became a hot spot for drug war killings. A mother of one drug suspect who was killed in a police operation in 2018 told the House panel that Garma arrogantly disturbed her son’s wake, “she strutted around and she was angry at [us] for holding a wake for the death of [my] son, and she was telling [us], ‘Why is there only one dead, there are many of them here,’” Raquel Lopez, mother of Rabby Lopez, said in a sworn statement.

“I can tell you that there were innocent policemen and civilians killed. I will tell you more in your next hearing,” Osmeña said.

Garma has become a clear target of the House quad committee. She is personally known to Duterte, having worked long years in the Davao City police under the former mayor. And there are enough skeletons in her closet that lead to Duterte.

Chinese drug lords’ killing

The current focus of the hearings is the killings of three Chinese drug lords who were detained at the Davao Penal Colony (Dapecol) in 2016. Persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) were brought to the Batasang Pambansa — Leopoldo Tan Jr. and Fernando Magdadaro — to swear to their affidavits that it was a cop named Master Sergeant Arthur Narsolis who ordered them to kill Chu Kin Tung, alias Tony Lim; Li Lan Yan, alias Jackson Li; and Wong Meng Pin, alias Wang Ming Ping.

Garma was Narsolis’ boss. Garma also confirmed Narsolis was her former boyfriend. The prisoner Tan mentioned another name, a former cop and fellow detainee Jimmy Fortaleza, who was visited inside the Dapecol by Garma before the Chinese drug lords were killed.

Fortaleza and Garma are both from the Philippine National Police (PNP) Academy batch 1997. In his affidavit seen by Rappler, Fortaleza confirmed Garma’s visit in July 2016, saying that she asked him where the drug lords were detained. Fortaleza claimed that Garma allegedly told him that she had an “operation” against these Chinese drug lords.

Garma confirmed that she visited Fortaleza in July 2016, but said it was only to visit a friend and asked how their PMA batch can help. She denied the allegations about the killings. 

And then the House found another witness, former Dapecol chief Senior Superintendent Gerardo Padilla, who, after being cited for contempt and detained at a regular jail, told the House that Garma threatened him against interfering in the operation that would kill the drug lords. In a supplemental affidavit, Padilla said he was told by Garma not to intervene because the operation was supposedly part of Duterte’s drug war.

Alleged DDS member

Garma is also accused of being a member of Duterte’s Davao Death Squad (DDS), a longtime subject of both local and international human rights investigations, but which to this day has not been brought to full-blown trial. That’s what self-confessed DDS hitman and whistleblower Arturo Lascañas wants to do, offering his testimony to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in exchange for limited immunity, as the court in The Hague investigates killings under Duterte. Lascañas named Garma as among the pioneering DDS members.

Garma denied the allegations. Answering a question from Kabataan Representative Raoul Manuel during the inquiry, Garma said: “I don’t know anything. I did not see anything. I’m explaining my answer based on my personal knowledge.” However, testimonies from whistleblowers directly link Garma to the DDS.

Garma is the only woman police named in Lascañas’ affidavit. Lascañas said that Garma told him personally she handled a group of hitmen, and that she was following the directives of Duterte’s most trusted aide, now-senator Bong Go.

The late Jude Sabio, lawyer of another DDS whistleblower Edgar Matobato, said in his communication to the ICC that Garma was allegedly “oversee[ing] and supervis[ing] the death squad operations in [the] war on drugs.”

“I do not know what evidence you are referring to. I am just speaking on what I know personally, what I saw, what I heard, what I felt. I use my five senses in all of these. I did not see anything. I am telling you what I only know personally,” Garma said, denying her knowledge of the DDS.

The ICC investigation is at the stage where Prosecutor Karim Khan can ask for a warrant or summons, if he has not already done so since this can be kept confidential, based on the prosecutor’s discretion. The ICC has so far requested an interview with former and present high-ranking cops, among them drug war architect Senator Bato dela Rosa, and retired cop and their fellow Davao resident Edilberto Leonardo. Garma was not among those invited, but there’s some indication that foreign countries could be watching her.

Garma said that she was barred from flying to the United States on August 28 from a connecting flight in Japan. She said she was told by airline staff that her US visa, which is supposed to expire in 2028 yet, had been declared “invalid and canceled.”

The US embassy in Manila told Rappler they could not comment on individual visa cases. But this could be connected to US diplomatic policy to sanction those believed to be human rights violators. Dela Rosa’s visa was also canceled in 2020.

From PNP to PCSO

When Garma retired from the police service in 2019, she still had 10 years before reaching the mandatory retirement age of 56.

She opted for early retirement and applied for the PCSO general manager position in the same year. Appointed by Duterte to that post, Garma served as PCSO chief from 2019 up to 2022.

Lawmakers also extracted from Garma that it was Go who facilitated her application for PCSO chief. In the six years of Duterte, anyone who wants a post is known to have to pass through Go.

“All Davao cops know Senator Bong…. No cop is unfamiliar with him, especially the officers,” Garma said.

But there’s also another reason why lawmakers were scrutinizing the PCSO appointment. PCSO remits some of its funds to law enforcement like the PNP and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and these funds are in millions.

“That is a charge to charity fund. There is a board resolution and the STL IRR (Small Town Lottery’s implementing rules and regulations) provide for it that we provide a portion of the charity fund to the Philippine National Police and NBI for medical programs,” Garma explained.

Former “drug war poster boy” Police Lieutenant Colonel Jovie Espenido recently confirmed the quota and reward system in the drug war. Espenido claimed that the reward came from local government units, Philippine offshore gaming operators, and PCSO’s STL.

Is it possible that the PCSO’s STL share given to the PNP was used as drug war reward money?

“That cannot be…. It’s not a reward. It’s to fund their [PNP and NBI] medical programs and it’s very clear in the charter,” Garma said.

When he faced the House on September 19, Osmeña said the reason that he opposed Garma’s appointment as city police chief was intelligence tagging her as allegedly receiving a P1-million weekly payola from illegal gambling. Osmeña said that Duterte and Go ignored this information.

“I talked to the president personally. [He told me to] tell everything to Bong Go. I gave all the reports to Bong Go. He was there and Bong Go didn’t do anything,” said Osmeña.

Why is she in the hot seat?

Garma is not top of mind of those who want to exact accountability for the drug war. Aside from Duterte, there is Go, Dela Rosa, and other past PNP chiefs like Oscar Albayalde.

“More broadly, her testimony or whatever disclosures the legislators could elicit from her would be, I imagine, would be instrumental in the search for justice and accountability. She’s a case study of how mid-level law enforcers are used by tyrants like Duterte to enforce brutal policies. So they are central to ensure accountability,” Human Rights Watch senior researcher Carlos Conde told Rappler.

In the strict hierarchy of the police force, Garma is indeed mid-level. But based on trust and confidence levels, she could be higher up.

Garma served in Davao City in multiple capacities: under the city’s anti-vice unit, chief of women’s desk, and as station commander. 

Duterte had also known Garma as a cop who delivered in the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, particularly during anti-illegal drug operations. 

When Garma’s former husband, then-chief inspector Roland Vilela got entangled in a sex scandal in 2005, Duterte helped Garma in ensuring that Vilela wouldn’t be reassigned elsewhere. An earlier report by Rappler said Garma had gone to Duterte for other personal problems and Duterte eventually “became the shoulder” that Garma “could cry on.”

Drug war implementer in Cebu and chief of the PCSO that allegedly holds the power of the purse for police operations, Garma is a valuable witness. Will she be a cooperative witness?

Not sure of that yet, but the House of Representatives has her where it wants her: detained and under pressure. – Rappler.com

*Quotes were translated into English for brevity