Duterte inclined to believe CIDG version on jail raid

MANILA, Philippines – President Duterte yesterday downplayed insinuations of an overkill by the police in the operation against Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa, who was killed during a supposed shootout with lawmen inside the provincial jail.

Duterte maintained he would stand by the police version that Espinosa engaged in gunplay with the lawmen despite alarms raised by lawmakers and other sectors.

Duterte had accused Espinosa and his son Kerwin of drug trafficking in the Eastern Visayas.

In a press briefing at the airport before leaving for Malaysia, Duterte stopped short of saying Espinosa deserved his brutal death.

“You have here a guy, government employee, using his office and money of government, cooking shabu and destroying the lives of so many millions of Filipinos. So, what is there for me to say about it?” he said. “Why should I be puzzled (by the circumstances of his death)?” 

Duterte said he disagreed with the move to transfer the policemen involved in the shooting of Espinosa.

“I will obey what the police will tell me because they are in the government. I will not go there to find fault with the police. I did not even agree that they should be transferred, at least not now. Otherwise there will be no more policemen to do their jobs,” he said. 

Espinosa was killed in his cell in the provincial jail in Baybay City, Leyte after he allegedly shot at police operatives of the regional Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) who were serving a search warrant for illegal firearms.

Another inmate, Raul Yap, facing illegal drug charges, was also killed when he also allegedly tried to shoot at the responding policemen.

Officials said a total of 19 policemen were involved in the shooting of Espinosa.

They were part of a police team that tried to serve that search warrant at 4 a.m. of Nov. 5.

Lawmakers led by Sen. Panfilo Lacson said the incident was an example of extrajudicial killing.

Sen. Richard Gordon, chairman of the Senate panel investigating summary killings involving policemen, said he would initiate a new investigation on the incident, which he said was “a dagger in the heart of the criminal justice system as it appears that even those who are in the custody of the law are no longer safe.”

Lacson, chairman of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, will spearhead today’s inquiry into the killing of Espinosa.

He said he intends to find out who was the judge that issued the search warrant to the CIDG.

Lacson said he was curious why the police sought a warrant from a regional trial court judge in Basey, Northern Samar, not in Leyte.

He noted the similar circumstances surrounding the killing of two other detainees, both of which took place inside their jail cells in Leyte.

Last August, Edgar Allan Alvarez was killed in a regional detention cell in Abuyog, Leyte by the CIDG, who were conducting an anti-illegal drug operation.

In October, Fernando Balgbis was killed by policemen in a detention facility in Baybay, Leyte during a similar operation.

“I want to find out if there were also search warrants (in those cases) and if the same judge issued these warrants,” he said.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered an investigation into the controversial warrant issued by the court that was used by the CIDG to enter the provincial jail where Espinosa was killed.

Lacson said he has inquired about the possible liability of the judge that issued the warrant to the CIDG.

For today’s hearing, Lacson said he has invited CIDG regional director Chief Supt. Marvin Marcos, the members of the raiding party, team leader Chief Insp. Leo Laraga and the lawyer of Espinosa.

Marcos was ordered relieved by Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa.

Eastern Visayas regional police director Chief Supt. Elmer Beltejar and Chief Insp. Jovie Espenido, Albuera police chief, have also been invited to attend the Senate hearing today.