Retired police colonel Royina Garma on Thursday denied threatening a fellow police officer to get out of the way of a kill order on three Chinese individuals convicted of drug charges in August 2016.
Garma made the denial after former Davao Prison and Penal Farm officer-in-charge Gerardo Padilla told the ongoing House investigation into the drug war deaths during the Duterte administration that Garma ordered him, via phone call, not to interfere in the operations against three Chinese inmates convicted of drug offenses.
“Hindi po ako tumawag sa kanya, your Honor,” Garma said.
(I did not call Padilla.)
Prior to Padilla’s linking Garma to the kill order, two Filipino inmates in Davao Prison told the House probe that it was then-President Rodrigo Duterte who issued the kill order on the three Chinese inmates.
Padilla also said that Garma was able to call him through Davao Prison and Penal Farm inmate Jimmy Fortaleza, who has known Garma since they were classmates at the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA).
Garma, however, said she and two other PNPA classmates paid a visit to inmate Fortaleza but did not talk about any kill order on the inmates.
“Naalala namin ang cadetship namin, mga kung ano-ano lang po [We reminisced about our cadetship, and other matters],” Garma said when asked what she talked about with Fortaleza during her July 2016 visit.
When asked if she called Fortaleza, Garma replied that she did not.
The joint committee conducting the probe has cited Garma in contempt, with Abang Lingkod party-list Representative Stephen Paduano citing her supposed “lying and evading questions” when he made the motion. — BM, GMA Integrated News
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