Witness vs Espinosa: Inconsistencies in statements due to translation inaccuracies

Marcelo Adorco, former driver and associate of Kerwin Espinosa, submitted another affidavit to the Department of Justice on Monday, April 30, 2018. (Photo by TETCH TORRES-TUPAS / INQUIRER.net)

Marcelo Adorco, former driver and associate of self-confessed drug distributor Kerwin Espinosa, said on Monday there were inconsistencies in his previous affidavits because some of his statements got lost in translation.

Adorco was the lone witness of the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) when it first initiated the complaint against Espinosa, Cebu-based businessman Peter Go Lim, convicted drug lord Peter Co and several others.

The complaint was dismissed, however, because of inconsistencies in Adorco’s affidavits as well as the failure of the police to submit supporting evidence.

In the December 2017 resolution, the DOJ noted the inconsistencies of Adorco:

• In his first affidavit, he said he personally met Peter Lim in Thailand in 2014, but he corrected it in his supplemental affidavit that the meeting took place in 2015.
• In his first affidavit, he said he, Espinosa and Impal visited Co at the Metropolitan Hospital in 2014, but it was changed to 2015 in his supplemental affidavit.
• In his first affidavit, Adorco said Espinosa and Lim had a total of four transactions in 2014, but in his supplemental affidavit he said that each transaction involved 40 kilograms of shabu.
• Adorco failed to mention a certain “Ozamiz Mayor” in his first and supplemental affidavits. He only mentioned the “mayor” in his third affidavit.
• Adorco said Lim promised to give Espinosa 20 kilos of shabu when they met in Thailand, but in his supplemental affidavit, he said the promise was actually 50 kilograms.

In his latest affidavit submitted Monday, April 30, to the Department of Justice (DOJ), Adorco said he was asked questions in Waray, one of the languages in the Visayas region, and he responded in Cebuano (also commonly called Bisaya by its speakers), another language.

“May mga pare-parehong katanungan sa akin na iba-iba ang pagkakasalin. May mga tanong sa akin sa wikang Waray na sinasagot ko naman sa wikang Bisaya hanggang maisalin na sa hindi tamang kahulugan,” Adorco said in his affidavit.

[There were similar questions propounded to me with different translations. There were questions in Waray which I answered in Bisaya but the translation was wrong.]

In his recent affidavit, Adorco corrected the inconsistencies mentioned in his first three affidavits.

He clarified that the transaction with Co at the Metropolitan Hospital was from 2012 to 2014 as stated in his first affidavit.

He also confirmed that he and Espinosa met Peter Lim in Thailand in 2015, not 2014

Adorco even submitted a mug with a picture of Espinosa, accompanied by his two children, as proof that they were in Thailand in 2015.

The DOJ panel of investigator gave the camp of Lim, Kerwin and the other respondents up to May 15 to submit their counter-affidavits. /atm