Mayor’s son sends surrender feelers to Bato

Rolando “Kerwin” Espinosa Jr. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Suspected drug lord Kerwin Espinosa  has expressed intention to return to the country and asked Philippine National Police Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa to fetch him from the airport.

Dela Rosa, who visited the wake in Pasay City of a policeman killed in an operation, said Kerwin’s father, Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. of Albuera, Leyte province, told him that surrender feelers from his son had been received through relatives.

“VIP ’no? Ako pa magsundo (I have to be the one to pick him up),” Dela Rosa told reporters on Thursday.

Based on records of the Bureau of Immigration, Kerwin had gone to Malaysia, Dela Rosa said.

The PNP chief said the shoot-on-sight order against the 36-year-old Kerwin was still in effect. “Yes, this is nonstop. They should not fool us. They might just be saying they will surrender so we will stop our efforts against them,” Dela Rosa said.

The mayor, who submitted himself to the police on Tuesday before President Duterte’s 24-hour deadline for the father and his son to surrender, spent the night at the White House, the official residence of the PNP chief.

Open house

“I don’t want to spend for their hotel accommodation. I have to be human because his wife and daughter were there. I can’t keep him in jail because there’s no case against him,” Dela Rosa said.

Asked if this will also be the treatment for other mayors who will surrender, Dela Rosa said, “Yes, my house is an open house. If you go to the White House, I will accommodate you.”

This was in contrast to the growing list of poor drug suspects being killed in police operations.

“They are killed when they put up a fight. (Mayor Espinosa) went to me, he did not put up a fight. Truth be told, I would have wanted to kill him. But I can’t because he did not fight. That would be against the law,” Dela Rosa said.