Albuera, Leyte Mayor Espinosa Killed in Jail
Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. was killed after a reported shootout with the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Region 8 at about 4:10 early morning of 5 November 2016 inside the Baybay City, Leyte sub-provincial jail where he was being detained after his arrest on 5 October for illegal drugs and illegal possession of firearms. Another inmate, Raul Yap, was also killed in the incident.
Espinosa surrendered to the Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa on 2 August 2016 after the President demanded for his and son Kerwin’s surrender within 24 hours or face a “shoot on sight” order. The PNP Chief kicked Espinosa out of Dela Rosa’s official residence after four days when Kerwin Espinosa failed to meet his deadline for surrender. Pending arrest warrant, Mayor Espinosa returned to his hometown of Albuera, Leyte on 16 August and stayed at the town hall for about a week before he asked for police protection. For fear of his life, the mayor temporarily held office at the town police station from 25 August until his arrest on 5 October and was detained in Baybay City Leyte sub-provincial jail.
The mayor is the father of Kerwin Espinosa who is allegedly the region’s druglord. Kerwin was arrested on 27 October and detained in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates until his pending return to the Philippines to face drug trafficking charges.
According to CIDG-Eastern Visayas Director, Sr. Supt. Melvin Marcos had claimed that the serving of search warrants against Mayor Rolando Espinosa and fellow inmate, Raul Yap, had been coordinated with the PNP, saying, “May ten days naman po para i-serve natin yung search warrant kaya lang nag-decide po kami na i-serve na kaagad yung search warrant in which nagkaroon po kami ng freedom of operation informing all units ng PNP that we will be serving the two search warrants against Mayor Espinosa and Raul Yap.”
The search warrant against Espinosa was for violation of Republic Act No. 10591 or the “Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act” while against Raul Yap was for violation of Republic Act No. 9165 or the “Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002”. The search warrants were issued by Basey, Samar Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 30 Judge Tarcelo Sabarre Jr. According to Sr. Supt. Marcos in a CNN interview, Chief Inspector Leo Laraga applied for the issuance of the said search warrants based on accounts of an informant who allegedly went to Baybay City sub-provincial jail and met Raul Yap and Mayor Espinosa.
Deponent
An individual who, under oath or affirmation, gives out-of-court testimony in a deposition. A deponent is someone who gives evidence or acts as a witness. The testimony of a deponent is written and carries the deponent's signature.
— West's Encyclopedia of American Law, edition 2
Deposition
The testimony of a party or witness in a civil or criminal proceeding taken before trial, usually in an attorney's office.
Deposition testimony is taken orally, with an attorney asking questions and the deponent (the individual being questioned) answering while a court reporter or tape recorder (or sometimes both) records the testimony. Deposition testimony is generally taken under oath, and the court reporter and the deponent often sign affidavits attesting to the accuracy of the subsequent printed transcript.
— West's Encyclopedia of American Law, edition 2
The need for search warrants against Espinosa and Yap as argued by Marcos was, “Nagkakaroon ng pagkakataon na nagbibigay ng search warrant based sa credible deponent kapag mayroong krimen na nangyayari sa loob ng isang facility, gaya ng isang jail, tulad ng pagpapasok ng droga, pagpapasok ng baril. Dapat kasama po ito sa iniimbestigahan kasi minsan ito ay tino-tolerate ng mga miyembro ng jail facilities.”. [Translation: There are cases a search warrant is given if a credible source says a crime is happening inside a facility, such as jails, like when illegal drugs or firearms are brought in. It is included in what should be investigated because sometimes members of jail facilities tolerate it.]
Marcos also confirmed that there was about 15 CIDG agents and reinforced by Maritime Police personnel to serve the search warrants. The regional police confirmed the operation was carried out by CIDG-8 led by Chief Inspector Leo Laraga. There was about a 15-minute standoff between the jail guards and the agents after which the agents gained entrance using bolt cutters. Espinosa who was in Cell 1 fired first on the agents and was killed in the gun fight. Yap who was in Cell 7 among six other inmates suppossedly fired on the agents and was also killed. None of Yap’s inmates were hurt in the incident.
From an InterAksyon news report, an unnamed source within the Leyte jail management system said there was a standoff and described the scene as a near-shootout incident between the CIDG agents and the Baybay jail guards when the guards refused to allow the CIDG agents inside because they supposedly did not have copies of the search warrants.
According to the PNP-Eastern Visayas regional director, Chief Supt. Elmer Beltejar, there was “no coordination” with his office by the CIDG Region 8 office.
A statement made earlier by regional police spokesperson Chief Inspector Bella Rentuaya said they knew nothing of the supposed serving of the warrants because it was “purely a CIDG operation at about 4 a.m. today.”
Provincial jail warden Homobono Bardillon, in a message, said, “I cannot make a statement as of the moment pending investigation. We don’t have a copy of (the search warrant) as of this time.” He added he could not access the detention area of the jail as of this posting because it was still being processed by a police Scene of the Crime Operations (SOCO) team.
The Police Regional Office region 8 report on the operation’s outcome says: “Implementation resulted to the death of Mayor Rolando E. Espinosa and Raul Yap.”
According to the PNP-Eastern Visayas regional director, Chief Supt. Elmer Beltejar, “The raid ensued in a firefight and resulted in the death of the subjects. It was purely a CIDG operation. The Scene of the Crime Operatives proceeded to the place of incident to process the crime scene.”
SOCO has so far recovered two firearms. Marcos said to CNN that Espinosa used a .38 Super gun. But in the said CNN Interview, Marcos narrated that the informant saw a 45 caliber in Espinosa’s cell. The CIDG said the SOCO was able to recover several sachets containing suspected shabu, suspected dried marijuana leaves, and assorted drug paraphernalia.
But Leyte provincial administrator Edgardo Cordeño said the hard drive containing CCTV footage of the jail, presumably also of the shooting incident, was nowhere to be found.
Lailano Villarino, lawyer of the Espinosa family, said the mayor sustained four gunshot wounds according to the autopsy result of 6 November which was conducted by Police Chief Inspector Benjamin Lara, medico legal of SOCO Region 7. Three deformed bullets were recovered from the mayor’s body. The fourth bullet, however, went through his corpse. The autopsy showed Espinosa sustained a head wound. The results said there is a possibility that the mayor was lying down when he was shot, Villarino said. The fired bullets are set to be brought to the regional crime laboratory for further study.
Also, two of the mayor’s pricey rings were reported missing. ●