Radio reporter wants to testify on Espinosa slay

TACLOBAN CITY—A broadcast journalist based here is willing to appear before the Senate committee that is investigating the killing of Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. inside his detention cell.

Eulogio Caorte, a reporter of dyBR (Kaugob Radio), maintained that while he was inside the compound of the sub-provincial jail, he was outside the main building where the raid was conducted past 3 a.m. last Nov. 5.

READ: Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa killed in ‘firefight’ inside jail

When the Scene of the Crime Operatives arrived to process the crime scene, he said he was able to get near the body of Espinosa but didn’t see any firearm.

“I will only tell them on what I knew. I was there to cover the operation and nothing else,” Caorte said.

The Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs will summon Caorte in the next hearing on the killing of Espinosa after Chief Insp. Leo Laraga, leader of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Eastern Visayas (CIDG-8) team testified on Thursday that the radio reporter could attest that there was nothing irregular in their operation.

READ: Senate opens probe on Espinosa slay

Laraga was the leader of the CIDG-8 team who raided the cells of Espinosa and Yap at the sub-provincial jail in Baybay City, Leyte.

Laraga maintained that he and his men were forced to shoot at Espinosa and Yap after they fired at the raiding team.

Caorte told the Inquirer that he was invited by the CIDG-8 to cover their operation early morning of Nov. 5 but was not told who the subject of the operation was.

“I was part of the team yes but I was not part of the operation. I was not even aware who was or were the subject or subjects of the operation except that search warrants were to be served by the CIDG,” he told the Inquirer.

He was not told where they were going and who would be subject of the operation when he went to the CIDG-8 headquarters in Tacloban City.

“I only learned where we’re heading when the vehicles we were riding stopped at a familiar landmark which was the Office of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Baybay,” he said.

The Leyte sub-provincial jail is near the DPWH office in Barangay (village) Hiposngo, a kilometer away from the city center.

Caorte claimed that when the CIDG team entered the facility, Laraga prevented him from entering the building where the cells were located.

“I was inside the compound but not inside the building,” he said.

Minutes after they arrived in the facility, Caorte said he heard bursts of fire followed by a commotion then another burst of fire.

“I later learned that the subjects were Mayor Espinosa and one Yap,” Caorte said.

He also stressed that while he knew that Espinosa was detained at the sub-provincial jail, he had no idea that the subject of the raid was the mayor, the father of Kerwin Espinosa, tagged as the biggest drug lord in Eastern Visayas. RAM/rga