PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte ordered lawmen to safely return suspected drug lord Kerwin Espinosa, son of slain Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa, so he could validate the sworn statement his father had given to the authorities before he was slain inside his jail cell in Baybay City in Leyte.
“Kerwin has the list. I hope he comes back alive [because] his father is dead,” Duterte said at the launching of Pilipinong May Puso Foundation Inc. in Davao City late Friday.
Duterte issued the order on the eve of the departure of government agents on Sunday to fetch Kerwin from the United Arab Emirates where he was arrested last October 17 after months of hiding.
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre had earlier said Kerwin has expressed willingness to testify about the involvement of 226 national and local officials in the narcotics trade as claimed by his father in a sworn statement submitted to the authorities.
But the value of the affidavit was subsequently questioned after the Alburea mayor was killed in the jailhouse by policemen who were purportedly out to serve a warrant against Rolando at dawn in the jailhouse. The police claimed the mayor was killed because he attempted to resist the police.
The NBI, an attached agency under the DoJ, has already started conducting a parallel investigation into the circumstances surrounding Mayor Espinosa’s death.
However, Aguirre said Kerwin wants to apply for protection under the government’s Witness Protection Program but his affidavit will have to be evaluated to determine if he is qualified to enter the program.
Aguirre said the government needs to be extra careful in securing Kerwin after his father was killed inside the jail last Nov. 5.
“That’s a lesson learned for us. That’s why we are considering placing Kerwin under WPP,” he said.
“Once he arrives, he will be brought to the PNP custodial center first before he could be turned over with his sworn statement to WPP custody,” Aguirre said.
