In a sworn statement released to the media on Friday, retired police colonel and former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) general manager Royina Garma confirmed implementing the so-called ‘Davao Model’ for the brutal drug war of former President Rodrigo Duterte.
Garma was referring to the systematic approach of rewarding police officers for delivering on the number of suspects who were either arrested or killed as part of the nationwide anti-drug operations.
“The Davao Model involves three levels of payments or rewards. First is the reward if the suspect is killed. Second is the funding of planned operations (or COPLANS). Third is the refund of operational expenses,” Garma stated in a five-page affidavit.
Garma said Duterte reached out to her to inquire whether she knew someone in the Philippine National Police (PNP), who was qualified to enforce such policy on a national scale during his administration.
The former PCSO chief said she and Duterte were acquainted with each other when she was assigned as Station Commander in one of the police stations in Davao during his tenure.
“I informed President Duterte that I was unaware of any individual with those qualifications, as I had not been assigned outside of Davao nor had I served in a national capacity within the PNP,” Garma recalled.
She then mentioned her upperclassman incumbent National Police Commission (Napolcom) Commissioner Edilberto Leonardo, who was then in charge of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).
Garma and Leonardo were both tagged recently by active police colonel Santi Mendoza in the murder of then PCSO board secretary Wesley Barayuga, who was also a retired officer of the PNP.
Her latest affidavit surfaced amid the ongoing public hearing of the House Quad Committee, which is looking into allegations of extrajudicial killings as a consequence of the brutal drug war that happened during the Duterte administration.
