Ex-PCSO chief Garma applying for US asylum, says counsel
MANILA, Philippines — Retired police officer and former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) General Manager Royina Garma is seeking asylum in the United States.
Garma’s lawyer, Emerito Quilang, said the former PCSO chief applied for asylum the same month she was apprehended.
“What I know is that the asylum was set for initial hearing on April 2 but it was canceled and there is no setting yet,” Quilang said in an ambush interview with reporters on Monday, April 14.
Garma left the Philippines on Nov. 7, 2024, following his revelations against detained former President Rodrigo Duterte concerning his drug war.
Garma is still in the custody of the U.S. authorities due to her canceled visa, according to Quilang.
What went before. Garma’s U.S. visa was canceled as she was in transit to the United States.
Garma is accused of involvement in several killings, including the 2020 murder of PCSO board secretary Wesley Barayuga and the 2016 deaths of three alleged Chinese drug lords.
She also revealed in a Congressional inquiry the existence of the death squad that Duterte formed, detailing how the "Davao Model" was applied in the nationwide implementation of the drug war.
Other cases against Garma. Quilang attended the Department of Justice’s preliminary investigation of the murder and frustrated murder cases filed by the authorities against Garma over the death of Barayuga.
On February 3, the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group filed murder and frustrated murder charges against the former PCSO chief.
The deadline for the filing of counter-affidavit is set on May 2. “We would be putting our defenses, of course, our defense is she does not have any participation,” Quilang said.
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