Lacson on Espinosa slay: ‘Premeditated’

Senator Panfilo Lacson (third from left, foreground) and other senators watch a presentation of the police at the Senate probe on the death of Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. LYN RILLON / INQUIRER

Apparently, the police team which raided the cell of Albuera, Leyte, Mayor Rolando Espinosa called for scene of the crime (SOCO) investigators even before the operation could begin.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson on Thursday uncovered discrepancies between testimonies and recorded time logs on the suspicious Nov. 5 raid that led to the killing of Espinosa, a confessed drug trafficker. The senator noted that police called for a forensics team to respond 41 minutes before officers even entered the regional detention facility in Baybay, Leyte.

The Senate initiated an inquiry noting how circumstances surrounding Espinosa’s slay indicated that it was an extrajudicial killing.

“There’s one word to describe this: premeditated,” said Lacson, a former police chief, who chairs the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs.

Lacson sharply noted that Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Region 8 Chief Supt. Marvin Marcos’ timeline showed that the team entered the jail through a bolt cutter at 4:30 a.m.

But Police Officer 2 Jennifer Monge of the Regional Tactical Operations Center logged in her record book that Supt. Santi Noel Matira, a member of the raiding group, called for a SOCO team at 3:49 a.m.

“Hindi pa kayo nakakapasok, nagrerequest na kayo ng SOCO? Inaanticipate niyo ba na may papatayin kayo? (You have not even entered [the jail premises], you were already requesting for a SOCO team? Were you anticipating that you were going to kill someone?,” said Lacson.

“Para kayong tumatawag ng punerarya, wala pang enkwentro (It’s like you were calling for a funeral parlor when there is no encounter yet),” he told police officers.

Matira reiterated that he called the SOCO only after shots were fired in the jail cell, where Espinosa and fellow inmate Raul Yap ended up dead.
The CIDG team was at the time serving a search warrant after receiving information that there was a pistol inside Espinosa’s cell. They explained that police fired at Espinosa and Yap after they put up a fight.

Lacson then asked Director Benjamin Magalong, Philippine National Police Deputy Chief for Operations, to seize Matira’s phone for forensic investigation of his call logs. CBB/rga