De Lima: Who are killing Kerwin’s minions?
Are there ongoing investigations into the deaths of the alleged minions and cohorts of self-confessed drug trafficker Kerwin Espinosa?
This was the question Senator Leila de Lima on Friday tossed to the Senate as well as to the newly-appointed heads of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Philippine National Police (PNP).
In a statement, the detained senator noted that there were at least nine persons related to Espinosa who have already been killed in separate incidents.
De Lima identified them and their causes of death as follows:
-Edgar Allan Alvarez, one of Kerwin’s alleged drug sources, killed on August 11, 2016, inside the Leyte Regional Penitentiary in Abuyog
-Rogelio Bato, Jr., Kerwin’s former lawyer, killed on August 24, 2016, in Tacloban City
-Annalou Llaguno, Kerwin’s ex-wife, killed on September 30, 2016, in Cebu City
-Mayor Rolando Espinosa, Sr., Kerwin’s father, killed on November 5, 2016 inside his jail cell in Leyte
-Ferdinand Rondina, an alleged bagman of Kerwin, killed on January 6, 2017, in Ormoc City
-Jake Bolanio Dela Cruz, Kerwin’s brother-in-law, killed on August 8, 2017, in Davao City
-Nelson “Jun” Pepito, Kerwin’s former driver-bodyguard, killed on December 12017, in Albuera, Leyte
-Jonah John Ungab, Kerwin’s lawyer, killed on February 19 2018, just outside the Cebu City Hall of Justice after a hearing with his client
-Max Miro, Kerwin’s right-hand man, killed on March 10, 2018, in Ormoc City
“Who are killing Kerwin Espinosa’s minions? Their cohorts in the illegal drug trade?” De Lima asked.
“Are they killing them as a warning to Kerwin, wanting him silenced for knowing too much, and also to prevent him from exposing the truth about my innocence?” the senator said.
De Lima also asked if there were any ongoing investigations into these killings.
“One thing is sure though. No one is investigating, or will dare investigate, the circumstances surrounding this whole mystery, particularly Kerwin’s fabricated story about my links to him and his drug trade,” De Lima said.
The senator also suggested that a “grand cover-up” is behind the killings.
“Would it be too much to ask the new DOJ Secretary, the incoming PNP Chief, and also the Senate to dig deeper into all these? For truth’s sake. I hope people realize that there is here a grand cover-up,” De Lima said. /muf
