CIDG-8 chief on Espinosa jail raid: ‘Just doing our job’

Police Supt. Marvin Marcos. NOY MORCOSO/INQUIRER.net

The chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Eastern Visayas (CIDG-8) on Thursday asserted that their operation to serve a search warrant on slain Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. was legitimate, appealing for public trust as he and his men faced suspicion for the raid.

“Magtiwala po kayo sa amin, nagtatrabaho lang po kami (Trust us, we’re just doing our job),” Supt. Marvin Marcos told reporters as he emerged from the nearly eight-hour hearing at the Senate.

During the inquiry of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, senators noted discrepancies in police logs and Marcos’ recollection of the events that led to Espinosa’s death while detained at a sub-provincial jail in Baybay, Leyte, on Nov. 5.

Lacson called the death of Espinosa, a confessed drug trafficker who had surrendered to police amid President Rodrigo Duterte’s fierce war on drugs, “premeditated.”

He found out during the hearing that the raiding team called for forensic investigators at 3:49 a.m., even before they broke into the jail facility at 4:30 a.m.

But Marcos explained the inconsistencies, saying he had based the timeline he presented before the Senate on messages related to the mission on his mobile phone. He said he had encountered trouble sending the text messages because of poor mobile phone signal in the area.

“When we got to Baybay, we were no longer aware of the time until we got to the jail … When you’re an operative—ask any operative around—you don’t look at the time,” he told reporters.

He said he was “absolutely sure” that the team only called for scene of the crime operatives after shots were fired.

Asked if he harbored any ill feelings for being suspected of committing an extrajudicial killing, Marcos said: “Wala pong samaan dito ng loob, trabaho lang po ito (No hard feelings. We’re just doing our job).”

He reminded the public who Espinosa was: an alleged drug lord who wantonly committed murder.

“That’s what the people do not know. All that they see is that the mayor surrendered, pretending to be kind, pleading, telling the truth. But he’s a criminal who killed so many. He basically terrorized the whole town to win as mayor,” Marcos said./rga