Prosecution recommends 2 cops as state witnesses in Barayuga slay case

The prosecution recommended the two policemen who were alleged accomplices of former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office general manager Royina Garma, serve as state witnesses in the murder case of former PCSO board secretary Wesley Barayuga. 

According to Mark Salazar’s report in “24 Oras” on Thursday, Police Lieutenant Colonel Santi Mendoza and former Police Officer Nelson Mariano appeared before the Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court Branch 279 to file a request for bail in their case. 

The House Quad Committee looked into the Barayuga murder case from 2024 to 2025. However, the committee is no longer active and the main personalities - Garma and ex-NAPOLCOM commissioner Edilberto Leonardo - are at large. 

Handcuffed, wearing bullet-proof vests and orange t-shirts denoting they were persons deprived of liberty, Mendoza and Mariano were both accompanied by several security escorts from the National Bureau of Investigation as they attended their hearing. 

The prosecution made the recommendation after the two policemen pointed Garma and Leonardo as masterminds in the case. 

The court has yet to decide on the recommendation. —Vince Angelo Ferreras/RF, GMA Integrated News