‘Garma will still testify at ICC’

MANILA, Philippines —  Despite a warrant for her arrest for murder, former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) general manager Royina Garma is safe and ready to testify against former president Rodrigo Duterte before the International Criminal Court (ICC), according to former senator Antonio Trillanes.

A Mandaluyong court has issued warrants for the arrest of Garma, former National Police Commission commissioner Edilberto Leonardo as well as police officials Jeremy Causapin, Nelson Mariano and Santie Mendoza for the 2020 murder of PCSO board secretary Wesley Barayuga.

Acting Philippine National Police chief Lt. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. ordered tracker teams formed to arrest Garma, who went to Malaysia in September to meet with ICC personnel before the arrest warrant was issued.

Trillanes, who went to The Hague for meetings related to the case filed against Duterte for crimes against humanity, told “Storycon” on One  News yesterday that Garma had been vetted and accepted as a witness by ICC prosecutors.

Even if the Philippine government seeks Interpol help for her arrest in connection with Barayuga’s murder, the ICC has an arrangement with Interpol under which ICC witnesses can be exempted from arrest by the police organization, Trillanes said. He declined to say where Garma is.

He said the ICC is expected to issue more arrest warrants only for Senators Ronald dela Rosa and Bong Go, and possibly former PNP chief Oscar Albayalde, in connection with Duterte’s war on drugs.

Nartatez ordered the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and other PNP units to monitor the suspects’ movements.

At a hearing of the House of Representatives, Santie Mendoza pointed to Garma and Leonardo as the ones who ordered Barayuga’s murder.

National Bureau of Investigation Director Jaime Santiago earlier said that Garma has no plans of evading her criminal cases in the Philippines. — Mark Ernest Villeza