Quezon city: Former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) general manager and retired police colonel Royina Garma, along with four others, has been ordered arrested in connection with the killing of PCSO board secretary Wesley Barayuga in July 2020, the Philippine National Police (PNP) announced on Monday. The Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court Branch 279 issued the warrant of arrest on September 13, 2025, against Garma, Lt. Col. Santie Mendoza, retired police colonel Edilberto Leonardo, and dismissed police officers Nelson Enriquez Mariano and Jeremy Causapin, also known as Toks, for murder and frustrated murder charges, with no bail recommended.
According to Philippines News Agency, PNP acting chief Lt. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez has ordered the immediate implementation of the arrest warrant. PNP spokesperson and information chief Brig. Gen. Randulf Tua±o conveyed the directive given by the PNP chief, emphasizing justice for all and the execution of all warrants of arrest irrespective of the case. Mendoza is currently on floating status and is under the custody of the Directorate for Personnel and Records Management’s Personnel Holding and Accounting Unit.
Tua±o mentioned that information on the whereabouts of Garma and the other accused is still being gathered. Earlier this month, Garma traveled to Malaysia as a tourist shortly after returning to the Philippines. Her arrival followed deportation from the United States, where her request for political asylum was denied. Garma has also agreed to testify for the prosecution against former president Rodrigo R. Duterte before the International Criminal Court.
In February, the National Bureau of Investigation filed murder and frustrated murder charges against Garma for her alleged involvement in Barayuga’s death. During a congressional inquiry related to Duterte’s drug war, Mendoza implicated Garma and Leonardo as the masterminds behind the killing. Garma alleged that the former president tasked her with finding an officer to implement the ‘Davao model’ of the drug war on a national scale, which she described as a ‘system involving payments and rewards.’
