Resolution on Espinosa slay out soon–DOJ

The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) resolution on the November 5 killing of Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. would be out in the next few days, Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said on Wednesday.

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

Aguirre disclosed this when he used the Espinosa case, during his confirmation hearing at the Commission on Appointment’s committee on justice and judicial and bar council, to show how fast the DOJ acts on cases even those allegedly involving erring policemen.

“The case is almost over until the respondents asked for an additional 10 days from January 21 within which to submit an additional counter affidavit,” he told the committee.

“The prosecutor granted the extension and so today the case is already submitted for resolution and we could expect the resolution within the next few days. So the case only lasted for about two months your honor before being submitted for resolution,” the Justice Secretary added.

The National Bureau of Investigation had already filed multiple charges at the DOJ against the police, led by Supt. Marvin Marcos, the suspended chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Eastern Visayas, who raided Espinosa’s cell at the Baybay sub-provincial jail. The raid resulted in the death of the mayor, who was being linked to illegal drugs.

Aguirre noted that the cases had been filed by NBI, an attached agency of DOJ, despite President Rodrigo Duterte’s previous pronouncements that he believed the version of police, who claimed that the mayor was killed in a firefight while being served a search warrant inside his cell.

READ: Duterte believes police version of Espinosa jail killing

This showed, he said, that they are doing their duties “to follow the rule of the law without fear or favor.”

“I’m glad to tell you that since the case of Marcos happened or in any other case, the President has never called me, instructed me to do anything. As a matter of fact I could say to you that since the time I assumed office, he never called me or my office to make any direction on how a certain case or cases will proceed,” Aguirre said. CDG