Push Admin

Tearful Garma stops exit of drug war victims' families to apologize

Article (news)

ABS-CBN News

<p>An emotional Royina Garma requested a chance to address family members of drug war victims before they were excused from the House quad-committee hearing on Friday (October 11), offering them an apology for the &quot;mistakes&quot; that led to deaths under her watch as police director of Cebu City.</p><p>The retired police colonel tearfully apologized to Baby Rosales and Raquel Lopez, whose respective sons Angelito and Rabby were killed by Garma&#x27;s policemen in 2018, after they each gave their testimony at the joint panel&#x27;s probe into the Duterte administration&#x27;s war on drugs.</p><p>&quot;I am very sorry in behalf of my men na nagkamali sa inyo. I am very sorry. But I cannot control all of them,&quot; Garma said.</p><p>&quot;Inaamin ko, may nagkakamali... I am sorry to all victims kung hindi ko naimbestigahan isa-isa &#x27;yung case niyo,&quot; she added.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/10/11/garma-says-duterte-tapped-davao-model-on-killing-drug-suspects-2122" id="isPasted">Garma says Duterte tapped &#x27;Davao Model&#x27; on killing drug suspects</a></div><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/10/12/why-garma-revealed-details-on-cash-for-killingss-under-duterte-1656" id="isPasted">Why Garma revealed details on &#x27;cash-for-killings&#x27; under Duterte</a></div><p>Garma followed her apology with a testimony implicating former President Rodrigo Duterte and then-presidential aide and now-senator Bong Go in a cash reward system for the extrajudicial killings of drug suspects during his term.</p><p>She confirmed the assembly of a national task force patterned after the &quot;Davao model,&quot; which provided police with financial rewards for killing drug suspects, funding for planned operations, and reimbursement for operational expenses.</p><p>Go has denied Garma&#x27;s allegations, calling her testimony &quot;diversionary tactics to muddle the true issue she is facing – her participation in an alleged murder plot.&quot;</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/10/12/bato-says-he-has-no-idea-about-reward-system-for-cops-in-drug-war-1032" id="isPasted">Bato says he has &#x27;no idea&#x27; about alleged reward system for cops in drug war</a></div><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/10/14/bong-go-defends-duterte-after-garma-expos-but-distances-self-from-drug-war-830" id="isPasted">Bong Go defends Duterte after Garma exposé but distances self from drug war</a></div><p>The senator was referring to the 2019 killing of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office board secretary Wesley Barayuga that Garma has been implicated in.</p><p>Another incumbent senator, former national police chief Ronald &quot;Bato&quot; dela Rosa,&quot; similarly said he &quot;no idea&quot; about a reward system during his tenure as Duterte&#x27;s drug war implementer.</p><p>&quot;During my time as the Chief PNP, I did not engage in a reward system because I had no funds for that,&quot; dela Rosa, also a former Davao City police chief, said.</p><p>Authorities have acknowledged more than 6,000 deaths in the war on drugs, although human rights groups have higher estimates on the number of people killed in anti-narcotics operations.</p>

<p>"I am very sorry in behalf of my men na nagkamali sa inyo. I am very sorry. But I cannot control all of them," Garma said.</p>

"I am very sorry in behalf of my men na nagkamali sa inyo. I am very sorry. But I cannot control all of them," Garma said.