Kerwin Espinosa arrives at the Senate for drug probe

Alleged drug lord Kerwin Espinosa arrived at the Senate for the Nov. 23, 2016, hearing on the death of his father Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa during a raid by police at the Baybay Sub-provincial Jail. AP FILE PHOTO

Suspected drug lord Kerwin Espinosa arrived at the Senate early Wedneaday morning to attend the resumption of the hearing on the killing of his father, Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr.

Kerwin, escorted by members of the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) SWAT team, arrived before 7 am, or two hours before the scheduled resumption of the hearing by the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs chaired by Sen. Panfilo Lacson.

READ: Pacquiao: Kerwin claims giving P8M ‘protection money’ to De Lima

The committee held its first hearing last November 10 into the killing of the mayor while being served a search warrant inside his cell at the Baybay, Leyte, sub-provincial jail before dawn of November 5.

Aside from Kerwin, also invited to the resumption of the hearing include Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa, and members of the Criminal In­ves­ti­ga­tion and De­tec­tion Group (CIDG) unit In Eastern Visayas that raided the mayor’s cell.

But even before Kerwin could testify before the committee, information already come up in the media regarding the personalities that he would purportedly implicate in the illegal drug trade.

READ: Kerwin says 3 CIDG men on his payroll– Lacson

Among them were Senator Leila de Lima, who allegedly received P8 million from Kerwin, and the three members of the CIDG-Region 8, who were allegedly in his payroll.

Lacson said Kerwin named in his draft affidavit the three policemen in his payroll, namely, Supt. Marvin Marcos, director of CIDG-Region 8, Chief Insp. Leo Laraga, who led the raid where Mayor Espinosa was killed, and Supt. Santi Noel Matira, raiding team supervisor. CBB