WEEKLY PAYOLA. Former Cebu City Rep. Tommy Osmeña gives testimonies in the House Quad Committee hearing on Thursday (Sept. 19, 2024). He told the joint panel that former Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group chief Royina Garma allegedly received PHP1 million weekly in payola from illegal gambling while assigned in Davao City. (House of Representatives photo)
MANILA – Former Cebu City Rep. Tommy Osmeña on Thursday said former Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) chief Royina Garma allegedly received PHP1 million weekly in payola from illegal gambling.
During the sixth hearing of the House Quad Committee, Osmeña said he opposed Garma’s transfer to Cebu after receiving information that she was collecting PHP1 million a week as chief of the CIDG in Davao City.
“It (report) says that when Garma was head of CIDG she was collecting PHP1 million a week. I cannot accept this for Cebu City. And her bagman was a certain SPO4 Art,” Osmeña told the panel looking into the extrajudicial killings during the past administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, illegal drug trades, and Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs).
“Now it appears that SPO4 Art is not only a lover. She brought this policeman with her when she was appointed to PCSO (Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office),” he added.
Laguna Rep. Dan Fernandez said Osmeña could be referring to the same SPO4 Arthur Narsolis who is being linked to the killing of three alleged Chinese drug lords inside the Davao Prison and Penal Farm in 2016 at the height of Duterte’s war on drugs.
Contrary to Garma’s claim in the previous hearing that she and Osmeña have personal differences, the former Cebu City mayor said, “I did not know her.”
Duterte named Garma PCSO general manager a few days after she availed of early retirement from the PNP in 2019.
Osmeña thanked the Quadcom for giving him the opportunity to tell “these things which you could further investigate.”
He said Garma was so influential that she had him suspended for a year by the Office of the Ombudsman after defending three vendors who were being harassed by policemen.
“Fortunately, the Ombudsman reversed its decision. The decision came out today. I am no longer suspended, I’m not even a mayor anymore,” Osmeña said.
Garma is under detention in the House of Representatives after the Quadcom cited her in contempt last week for lying.
Osmeña said he is ready to tell more in the next hearing about the innocent policemen and civilians killed in the deadly campaign against illegal drugs by the Duterte administration. (PNA)
