Sen. Panfilo Lacson INQUIRER PHOTO/LYN RILLON
Three policemen involved in the Nov. 5 raid on the cell of Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. in a Leyte jail, including the officer who shot the local official, were on the payroll of suspected drug lord Kerwin Espinosa, the mayor’s son.
Their link to Kerwin Espinosa, described in a draft statement submitted by the alleged drug lord, was the possible reason the elder Espinosa was killed, Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson said on Tuesday.
Motive for killing
“Although it’s not conclusive, more or less we can see the motive why Mayor Espinosa was killed,” Lacson told reporters.
He said it was the information that the three policemen were on the young Espinosa’s payroll that struck him when he read a draft of the latter’s statement, which the mayor’s son was expected to sign on Tuesday.
“And with more reason that Kerwin Espinosa should be protected, not for anything but to really find out how massive is his influence,” he said.
Lacson said it would be up to Espinosa to explain his implication of the three policemen.
Espinosa will have a chance to make good his promise to tell all about the protectors of his illegal drug business on Wednesday, when he appears at the second hearing of Lacson’s committee on public order and dangerous drugs on the police slaying of Mayor Espinosa.
The mayor and another inmate, Raul Yap, were shot dead by policemen who raided their cells at a subprovincial jail in Baybay City, Leyte province, at dawn on Nov. 5 in search of weapons and drugs.
During the first hearing, Lacson said the mayor’s killing appeared to be premeditated, based on testimony of the policemen involved.
On the take
Kerwin Espinosa, 31, allegedly the biggest drug lord in Eastern Visayas, said Supt. Marvin Marcos, director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the Philippine National Police in Eastern Visayas; Chief Insp. Leo Laraga, leader of the raiding team, and Supt. Santi Noel Matira, raiding team supervisor, were on his payroll, according to Lacson.
It was Laraga who shot Mayor Espinosa, claiming the detained local official put up a fight when the CIDG team went to his cell to serve a search warrant on him.
Matira was the one who called crime scene investigators an hour ahead the 4:30 a.m. raid on the jail.
His testimony made senators ask why the raiding team seemed to have expected that someone would be killed during the operation.
In the case of Marcos, Lacson reminded reporters that he had asked the CIDG-Eastern Visayas regional director whether he knew Espinosa personally but that Marcos denied knowing the slain mayor’s son.
Directly involved
Espinosa’s statement, however, showed Marcos was directly involved with Espinosa, as Marcos was on the payroll of the suspected drug lord, Lacson said.
The senator said the motive for killing the mayor by the police officers was “circumstantial.”
“If the payola (of the Espinosas) included persons who were involved in the death of his father, it’s possible they were trying to cover up,”
he said.
Lacson said it was saddening that policemen were treating drug lords like “jueteng” lords and they were the ones taking the initiative to be on the drug lords’ payroll.
“It was not Kerwin who initiated the move to have police connections in Region 8 (Eastern Visayas) but it was police officials who found a conduit so they could have a regular weekly or monthly payola,” he said.
De Lima defense
Lacson said Sen. Leila de Lima should be “ready” during Wednesday’s hearing to defend herself against the testimony of Espinosa, who claimed to have given her P8 million in protection money.
Sen. Manny Pacquiao said in a television interview on Tuesday that Espinosa had told him that he gave P8 million to De Lima and P1.5 million to Marcos for protection.
Pacquiao said he would clarify the information with Espinosa during Wednesday’s hearing.
Lacson said De Lima had asked not to be embarrassed at the hearing. He said he did not think the senators would intentionally embarrass her.
“But she should also be prepared to answer if she is confronted directly by Kerwin Espinosa on their involvement,” he said.
Lacson said Espinosa mentioned only one senator in his statement, naming the others who received protection money from him as mostly police
officials.
Mayor’s statement fake
He also said Kerwin Espinosa believed the statement naming protectors that Leyte police claimed to have been executed by his father was fake.
Espinosa denied the signature on the statement was his father’s, Lacson said.
He claimed his statement was the real one, the senator added.