Policemen implicated in the killing of Rolando Espinosa Sr. —the former mayor of Albuera, Leyte who was implicated in the illegal drug trade in Eastern Visayas—“will walk out free men,” President Rodrigo Duterte said Wednesday.
“And for those who are facing charges, they can be very sure that they will walk out free men. Wala kayong problema basta diyan [you’ll have no problem with that],” the President said at the event commemorating the 120th founding anniversary of the Presidential Security Group at Malacañang.
Duterte reiterated this in a separate speech during the turnover ceremony of China’s military assistance to the country in Angeles, Pampanga.
The President said he will never allow the Leyte cops tagged in the shooting of Espinosa—who was inside his cell at the Baybay, Leyte Sub-Provincial Jail after being arrested on drug charges —to rot in prison just for doing their job.
“Dito sa Eastern [Visayas], si Albuera mayor, now, there’s a case against the police allegedly for murdering him. May I now tell you, the police and the military men here, that I will never, never ever allow a policeman or a military man going to prison for doing his duty,” the President added.
Despite the report by the Senate Committee on Public Order, finding that the Espinosa killing was “premeditated”—with the former mayor practically defenseless in his jail cell—the Department of Justice downgraded the criminal charges against dismissed Supt. Marvin Marcos, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Region 8 (CIDG-8) director, and his men from murder to homicide.
Last December, Duterte admitted he did not want Marcos removed from his post despite evidence linking him to the murder.
A police incident report said a “firefight” between Espinosa and Raul Yap and the operatives of CIDG8 in Northern Leyte led to the deaths of the two detainees on Nov. 5, 2016.
Espinosa was charged with possession of drugs and unlicensed firearms after a raid on his house yielded at least 11.5 kilograms of “shabu” and several firearms and ammunition.
The mayor had previously sought protective police custody for fear of his life after he and his son, Kerwin, were identified as among Eastern Visayas’ biggest drug lords.