FORMER Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) general manager and retired police colonel Royina Garma remains in detention at a U.S. immigration facility following an expedited removal order issued upon her arrival in San Francisco late last year, a Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) official told lawmakers Monday.
“This is confirmed based on the latest information from our Philippine Consulate General in Houston,” DFA Passport Division Assistant Director Charlie Florian Prenicolas told the House Quad Comm, which formally concluded its probe into alleged extrajudicial killings linked to the Duterte administration’s brutal war on drugs and related abuses.
“Ms. Garma remains in detention at the South Louisiana Immigration and Customs Enforcement Processing Center because detainees are unable to receive calls per U.S. regulations,” Prenicolas added.
The DFA official told the panel that the Philippine consulate had already reached out to U.S. authorities on Garma’s behalf.
“Our consulate in Houston has provided its contact information to ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) with the request that this be conveyed to Ms. Garma. The consulate was given the assurance that the contact information of the consulate had been relayed to Ms. Garma,” Prenicolas said.
“And the consulate also has not been contacted yet by Ms. Garma as of today,” Prenicolas added.
“Mr. Chair, I was in coordination with our consul in Houston and this is the latest information,” he said.
When asked about the basis of Garma’s detention, Prenicolas replied: “According to the reports from the Philippine Consulate and based on the information gathered from our consulate, Mr. Chair, Ms. Garma was issued an expedited removal order upon her arrival in San Francisco which is currently under appeal din po.”
He added: “She was scheduled to appear in court last December 2024 in Louisiana and again, she remains detained at that processing center. That was the only information from our Philippine Consulate.”
Garma’s continued detention comes months after she testified under oath before the House Quad Comm, composed of the Committees on Dangerous Drugs, Public Order and Safety, Human Rights, and Public Accounts.
Garma, who previously served as Cebu City police chief, was among several police officials summoned to explain their roles in deadly anti-drug operations during the administration of former President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
In her testimony, Garma admitted that Duterte personally called her at 5 a.m. just days before his 2016 inauguration to help identify a police officer who could replicate the so-called “Davao model” nationwide.
Garma acknowledged that financial rewards were offered to police for successful drug operations—including payments for the deaths of suspects.
She said she kept quiet about the system until compelled to speak before Congress, adding that she feared for her safety and her family.
Her name has also been linked to the 2020 killing of PCSO board member Wesley Barayuga, which the committee is now reexamining. Some witnesses have claimed that Garma and Leonardo ordered the hit—a charge she has denied.
