IN July 2020, Atty. Wesley Barayuga, a retired general and board secretary of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, was shot by an unknown assailant on a motorcycle in Mandaluyong City.
The assailant remains scot-free and no one has been linked to the killing.
Until last September 27, 2024, during the latest Quad Committee hearing where Lt. Col. Santie Fuentes Mendoza revealed that the order to kill Barayuga came from retired Col. Edilberto Leonardo and ret. Col. and former PCSO general manager Royina Garma.
Forced to follow orders from these high-ranking officials and fear of career repercussions due to their close ties with the Duterte administration, Mendoza felt he had no choice but carry out the kill orders.
He then turned to one Nelson Mariano who found an assassin named ‘Loloy’ that carried out the killing, said to have a budget of P300,000, which was divided among the trio with the latter receiving the biggest share of P200, 000 .
At the time of Barayuga’s death in 2020, it’s made to appear that his killing was due to his involvement with illegal drugs although he’d never been included in any drug list as confirmed by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.
In fact, the QuadComm has found out that Barayuga was preparing documents and ready to testify against Garma and the corruption and illegal practices within the PCSO.
During previous hearings, Chairman Dan Fernandez presented evidence indicating that the government lost P90-billion during Garma’s tenure at the PCSO from 2019 to 2022.
If Mendoza’s testimonies were to be found credible, since in the first place he talked under oath, this would only show that Garma is a ruthless woman unafraid to eliminate anyone who stands in her way.
She could be this fearless because she knew she had the backing of former president Rodrigo Duterte.
Garma was one of the key players during the Duterte administration. She was given a juicy government position that made it easy to steal the Filipino people’s money.
