Ex-PCSO exec Garma returns to PH after US asylum denied

Retired police colonel Royina Garma, formerly of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), has returned to the Philippines after her asylum application was rejected in the US.

She arrived at Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 from Los Angeles, California, on Saturday evening.

Garma was apprehended in San Francisco in November of the previous year due to a canceled visa.

The National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police had previously filed murder and frustrated murder complaints against her for the death of PCSO board secretary Wesley Barayuga, with her implicated as a mastermind.

She again left the Philippines as a tourist for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, departing the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 on Sunday night.

The Bureau of Immigration confirmed this, stating that while Garma is under an Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order, no hold departure order or arrest warrant has been issued against her.

Garma had previously claimed that former President Duterte had sanctioned a cash reward system for the deaths of drug suspects.