House taps NBI to probe Davao prison murders

The House quad committee has directed the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to investigate the death of three Chinese drug lords inside the Davao Prison and Penal Farm (DPPF) in 2016 during the war on drugs of former president Rodrigo Duterte.

- SHEILA CRISOSTOMO

At a hearing on Thursday, Antipolo City Rep. Romeo Acop made a motion for the panel to ask the NBI to dig deeper into the killings of Chu Kin Tung, Li Lan Yan and Wong Meng Pin in the penal colony.

Hearing no objection, quad committee co-chair Robert Ace Barbers declared the motion as "carried." The committee is looking at the Chinese nationals' deaths as part of an investigation into the war on drugs and extrajudicial killings during the Duterte administration.

The panel is primarily looking at the involvement of former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) general manager Royina Garma in the assassination of the drug lords.

Garma, a former police colonel who held various police posts in Davao City, had visited the penal colony in July 2016 and asked about the whereabouts of the three drug lords.

After this, "Oplan Galugad" was conducted at the facilities, leading to the transfer of the three drug lords to an isolation facility.

Two inmates, namely Leopoldo Tan Jr. and Fernando Magdadaro, have admitted to killing the drug lords.