Murder raps filed vs. Garma, Leonardo, 5 others over Barayuga killing

Former PCSO General Manager Royina Garma and former NAPOLCOM Commissioner Edilberto Leonardo are now facing complaints of murder and frustrated murder for the killing of PCSO board secretary Wesley Barayuga.

Members of the PNP CIDG and the NBI OTCD filed the complaints before the Department of Justice on Monday after months of joint case build-up.

Also named in the complaints are Police Lt. Col. Santie Mendoza and police informant Nelson Mariano who in the House Quad Committee tagged Garma and Leonardo as the masterminds behind the killing of Barayuga in 2019.

Both Garma and Leonardo denied the allegations in the House committee hearings.

Mendoza said he contacted Mariano to contact a hitman named “Alyas Toks” who executed the plan to gun down Barayuga.

Alyas Toks was named in the complaint as Police Sr. Master Sergeant Jeremy Causapin.

Also included in the complaint are an “Alyas Loloy” and a John Doe.

Mendoza and Mariano were recommended as state witnesses for their cooperation in the investigation.

The National Prosecution Service will first evaluate the complaint before setting a preliminary investigation hearing.

The probe into Barayuga's killing was first made under former Mandaluyong City Police Station chief Police Colonel Hector Grijaldo Jr., who was a former classmate of Garma at the PNP Academy.

House QuadComm lead chairperson Rep. Robert Ace Barbers said Grijaldo is liable for the cover up on the real reason behind Barayuga's killing in Mandaluyong in 2020. 

Garma is being held in the United States for alleged money laundering and human rights violations in connection with the Magnitsky Act.  

Passed in 2016, the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act imposes sanctions on perpetrators of human rights violations and corruption anywhere in the world.

Two immigrant lawyers in New York believe that Garma is now in the process of seeking political asylum.

Earlier, Garma’s legal counsel said her client has no plans of hiding in the US and that her visa had no issues when she left the country. —NB/RF, GMA Integrated News