QUEZON City – Former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has been directly named as top conspirator in the murder of three Chinese nationals inside the Davao Prison and Penal Farm on August 13, 2016.
In his testimony in Congress on Thursday, Supt. Gerardo Padilla confirmed that Duterte called him up to congratulate him right after Cho-kin Tong, Jackson Lee, and Peter Wang, were stabbed to death by fellow prisoners inside the cell that they shared inside the penal colony.
Padilla was the warden of the Davao penal colony at the time of the killing.
Former Davao inmates Leopoldo Tan and Fernando Magdadaro previously testified in Congress that the three Chinese targets were transferred to their holding cell so they could stab them to death using bladed weapons supplied by a fellow convict through the intercession of prison officials.
Padilla also confirmed having received a call from Royina Garma, a former high-ranking police officer in Davao City, who directed him to cooperate in the killing and not to interfere in the “operation” because there would be consequences.
Garma was Duterte’s general manager of choice for the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office in 2019. She admitted in the same hearing that sometime in July 2016 she met with Padilla and Col. Edilberto Leonardo in the latter’s office as the chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Davao City.
Garma however clarified that she only paid a courtesy visit to Leonardo and chanced upon Padilla on the same day of his visit. She said that she was at the CIDG office to gather documents for her thesis in graduate school.
Representative Johnny Pimentel said that the conspiracy to commit the crime against the Chinese prisoners has been established in the hearings, and that the top conspirator was former President Duterte. Col. Leonardo, Col. Garma, and Supt. Padilla were the implementors of the plan.
Pimentel however singled out Garma as the “director” of the operation because her “footprints were evident” as narrated in the affidavits of the other resource persons including that of Padilla who has admitted his participation in the successful implementation of the plan to kill the three Chinese nationals.
Padilla’s recent testimony reverses his previous statement denying the call made by former President Duterte. He said he previously made the denial because he feared for the safety of his family. In his most recent affidavit he confirms what convict Tata Tan overheard as the spoken words of Duterte: “congrats Superintendent Padilla, job well done. Pero grabe ang ginawa, ginawang dinuguan.”
Leonardo however denied knowing Padilla, contradicting Garma’s admission that she met Padilla in his office. He claimed his first time seeing Padilla was at the House quad comm hearings.
Garma admitted having visited the Davao penal colony in July 2016 to see detainee Jimmy Fortaleza, a batchmate at PNPA class 1997, a “random decision” because she was in the area together with two other classmates.
Fortaleza said that when Garma visited she asked about the location of the Chinese prisoners and he replied that they were being held at the foreigners’ section. Garma supposedly mentioned that they were planning an “operation” against them.
Garma’s career path was highlighted in the hearing, including her apparent closeness to Duterte leading to her appointment to choice police positions in Davao and Cebu, ultimately leading to her appointment to the PCSO.
Garma said she submitted her application to former Presidential Assistant Lawrence “Bong” Go after it was announced in the media that then GM Alexander Balutan was about to be replaced because of allegations of corruption./PN
