The Department of Justice on Wednesday formally charged confessed drug operator Kerwin Espinoza and three other accused with drug charges before the regional trial court in Manila and Makati City.
The department filed three separate counts of violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act, particularly conspiracy to commit illegal drug trade, against Espinoza, convicted drug lord Peter Co, Lovely Impal and Ruel Malindangan.
Acting Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon said two counts were filed against the four before the Manila RTC while the third count was filed before the Makati City RTC.
He said the DoJ filed the cases after the preliminary investigation conducted by a panel led by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera found ample basis in the complaint filed by the police against Espinoza and company, including Cebuano businessman Peter Lim.
However, the DoJ has not yet resolved the drug charges against Lim after the panel granted his plea for a separate preliminary investigation.
In a resolution, the DoJ’s investigating panel found probable cause in the charges of violation of section 26 (B) in relation to section 5 or Article II of R.A. 9165 against all four respondents.
The investigating prosecutors based their findings on the testimony of state witness Marcelo Adorco who confessed participation in the illegal drug trade and pinpointed Espinoza, Co, Impal and Malindangan as his cohorts.
The DoJ prosecutors said that, contrary to the defense of Espinoza, who is already facing other drug cases before the Manila RTC, the confiscation or presence of the illegal drugs was not necessary to establish the criminal liabilities of the respondents.
They said that, under R.A. 9165, conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading was an offense distinct from drug trading per se.
The panel further cited as basis the confession of Espinoza during an earlier Senate inquiry that he was involved in the illegal drug trade in Regions 7 and 8.
However, the DoJ cleared three other respondents in the case”•Max Miro, Nestor “Jun” Pepito and Rowen Reyes Secretaria”•due to their recent death.
The DoJ dismissed late last year the charges of sale, administration, dispensation, trading, delivery and transportation of illegal drugs against the respondents.
The previous panel dismissed the charges and faulted the PNP-CIDG for presenting weak evidence and the “inconsistencies” in the testimony of Adorco.
Because of the outrage over the dismissal of the charges against Lim and Espinoza, which earned the ire of President Duterte himself, the DoJ reopened the case and conducted a reinvestigation on the order of resigned Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II.
Additional pieces of evidence were then submitted by the CIDG through the assistance of the office of the solicitor general. Among those were a new affidavit of Adorco further detailing the alleged meeting between Lim and Espinoza in Thailand in 2015 where they closed a drug trade deal.
The police also submitted records from the Bureau of Immigration to support Adorco’s claim.