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A former prison official on Wednesday said one of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s most trusted police officers forced him to go along with a plot that led to the killing of three Chinese drug trafficking convicts at the Davao Prison and Penal Farm (DPPF) in August 2016.
Testifying before a joint House inquiry, Police Col. Gerardo Padilla, former officer in charge of the DPPF in Panabo City, Davao del Norte, said he was “subjected to intense pressure” by Royina Garma, then a police colonel heading the Central Visayas regional command of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the Philippine National Police.
According to Padilla, Garma told him to “not question (the operation) ‘whether you like it or not’” and to “cooperate or you will be sorry (mananagot ka sa amin).”
Asked by Baguio Rep. Mark Go and Zambales Rep. Jay Khonghun what Garma meant, Padilla said it was to have three Chinese inmates killed, referring to convicted drug lords Chu Kin Tung, Li Lang Yang and Wong Meng Pin.
At the time the inmates were reported killed on Aug. 16, 2016, authorities said they were stabbed dead by two Filipino inmates at the maximum security compound in an altercation over a drug deal.
“Why did Garma have that power and influence (to order you)?” Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante asked Padilla. “Could it be that you had followed her orders and allowed her to talk to you like that because she reports directly to Duterte?”
“Perhaps, your honor, because she was still deputy CIDG chief when (Duterte) was still mayor of Davao City, and she even became a station commander in one precinct in Davao,” Padilla said.
