QUEST FOR JUSTICE
SURIGAO del Norte Representative Robert Ace Barbers, overall chair of the House Quad Committee, has assured the family of retired Police Gen. Wesley A. Barayuga that the panel would leave no stone unturned to resolve his case and put behind bars the masterminds and perpetrators of his murder four years ago.
Barbers, who also chairs the House Dangerous Drugs Committee, also expressed gratitude to Wesley’s family led by his wife, Sarah, for placing the family’s trust in the Quadcom panel’s legislative inquiry – for reopening and reinvestigating his case with new witnesses who could shed light behind the plot to liquidate him.
“Aming ipinapangako sa pamilya ni Wesley Barayuga na gagawin namin ang lahat upping mapanagot at maparusahan ang mga taong nasa likod ng kanyang pagpaslang,” the solon from Mindanao said.
The Barayuga family assailed the masterminds in Wesley’s murder for even linking him to illegal drugs “to justify” his killing and cover their tracks.
“Sa huling apat na taon, inupuan ang kaso at pinaasa ang aming pamilya na may ginagawa sila ukol dito. At this point, it is difficult to trust and put our hopes up,” the Barayuga family statement said.
“This (Quadcom investigation) gives us comfort even while we know that we are still far from receiving justice.”
Wesley, a lawyer, a member of the Philippine Military Academy “Matikas” Class of 1983 and board secretary of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) at the time of his death, was on his way home from his PCSO office at Shaw Boulevard at about 4pm of July 30, 2020 when he was shot four times at close range by one of two gunmen aboard separate motorbikes at the corner of Calbayog and Malinaw Streets in Barangay Highway Hills, Mandaluyong City while traffic was at a standstill. His driver, who was hit once in the stomach, survived the incident.
During Quadcom’s 7th hearing held at the Lower House in Quezon City, active-duty Police Lt. Col. Santie Fuentes Mendoza, presently assigned with the PNP Drug Enforcement Group Special Operations Unit, and his civilian anti-drug “asset” Nelson Mariano both testified that former PCSO general manager Royina Garma and Napolcom Commissioner Edilberto Leonardo have planned and funded the July 30, 2020 assassination of Barayuga.
