Who ordered Bato to return axed police exec to old post?

PNP Chief Ronald Dela Rosa. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES

Philippine National Police Director-General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa said Tuesday he would divulge to lawmakers in an executive session who ordered him to reinstate Supt. Marvin Marcos as head of the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Region 8 that was blamed for the death of a mayor in jail for drug trafficking.

“I’m not going to lie to you, but I can’t tell you who he is [for now],” Dela Rosa said in a press conference at the Quezon City Police District headquarters in Camp Karingal.

“Please understand, I’m only the chief of PNP, a humble policeman from the province,” he said.

“You will be enlightened,” he said, when asked what he would reveal to the lawmakers.

The PNP chief is expected at the next Senate hearing on Monday.

Dela Rosa said the unnamed official had ordered him to return Marcos to CIDG Region 8 after the latter was transferred to CIDG Region 9. He declined to identify the official and said he could not recall when the supposed phone conversation took place.

The PNP chief relieved Marcos shortly after suspected Eastern Visayas drug lord Kerwin Espinosa was arrested in the United Arab Emirates last month. PNP-Anti Illegal Drug Group officials interviewed Espinosa, who then tagged Marcos as among the police officials involved in drug operations in the region and receiving payoffs from him.

Dela Rosa said he ordered Marcos relieved, but the high official intervened.

He said he agreed to the recall since Marcos, due to Espinosa’s disclosure, was about to be investigated by the internal affairs division anyway.

But less than a month later, Marcos and his team were accused of irregularly serving a search warrant at the Leyte subprovincial jail in Baybay City and killed Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa during a fire fight. The slain suspect was the father of the younger Espinosa.

Kerwin Espinosa later testified before the Senate, and pointed to Marcos and several officials who he claimed received payoffs in exchange for turning a blind eye to his drug operations in the region.

Marcos and CIDG Region 8 officials led by Supt. Noel Santi Matira and Senior Insp. Leo Laraga have since been relieved from their positions and recalled to the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City. They remain under restrictive custody while an internal affairs investigation is ongoing.

Meanwhile, Kerwin’s lawyer Leilani Villarino, denied her client was backtracking from his allegation that the Albuera town police head Chief Insp. Jovie Espenido also received payoffs.

Villarino said her client never named Espenido as a recipient of drug money.

But Kerwin told the Senate that it was Espenido who introduced him to Ronnie Dayan, the former driver and security aide of Sen. Leila de Lima who is also accused of receiving payoffs from drug lords.