FORMER Cebu City Police Office director Royina Garma admitted that the ambush of former Daanbantayan mayor Vicente Loot and the killings of two PDEA agents were part of Duterte’s anti-drug war.

Garma told congressmen investigating the extrajudicial killings and the anti-drug war under the Duterte administration that the ambush of Loot and the killings of the two PDEA agents were part of an anti-drug reward system.

She stated that many high-value targets were neutralized and killed not only in Cebu City but also in nearby cities and towns within Cebu Province, including the ambush of Loot.

Former President Rodrigo Duterte had tagged Loot as a drug protector operating in northern Cebu.

The former mayor was ambushed by armed men in a white van when his boat docked at the New Maya Port in May 2018.

Loot’s household workers exited the boat first. Two armed men opened fire, hitting them and the Loot family’s service van. After the shooting, the two gunmen boarded the white van, which then sped off.

Loot survived the attack along with his family but has remained out of the public eye since then.

Efforts to reach former mayor Loot, his wife Malou and current Mayor Sun Shimura, his stepson, for comment on Garma’s revelations have so far been unsuccessful.

PDEA agents

Meanwhile, Garma also linked the deaths of Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) agents Earl Rallos and Von Rian Tecson to anti-drug efforts, revealing that those involved in the killings received payments of around P20,000.

She told the committee that cash rewards ranged from P20,000 to P1 million, depending on the target.

She herself admitted receiving rewards three times. She however, failed to clarify how much she received and what she did.

She further disclosed that surrendered drug suspects were sometimes set up to appear as if they had resisted arrest before being killed.

Rallos, a PDEA assistant operations officer in Cebu, was ambushed and killed on Villalon St. in Cebu City on July 27, 2018, suffering multiple gunshot wounds. Witnesses described a gunman who fired directly at Rallos in his vehicle and then pursued him as he tried to escape.

Just 12 days later, Tecson, another PDEA operative, was gunned down in Carcar City, marking another chapter in Cebu’s string of drug-related killings.

Garma, who also served as general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), is being investigated by the House quad committee for her alleged involvement in extrajudicial killings and the drug war during Duterte’s administration.

Appointed by Duterte as general manager of PCSO from 2019 until her resignation in 2022, Garma’s confession at the House quad comm hearing on Tuesday, Oct. 22, shed light on the darker side of Cebu’s anti-drug campaign.

Earlier, Garma had been cited for contempt for allegedly lying and evading questions, resulting in her detention at the House of Representatives until the quad comm concludes its inquiry or until the contempt citation is overturned by the House or a court.

The House quad comm is now considering lifting the contempt order after Garma provided details on the alleged reward system in the previous administration’s war on drugs.

Garma is now under investigation for her role in these violent operations, along with former National Police Commission commissioner Edilberto Leonardo, as part of a broader inquiry into the Duterte administration’s controversial anti-drug campaign.