The Department of Justice has been asked by the National Bureau of Investigation to prosecute self-confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa and six others over alleged drug trading in Cebu City from 2008 to 2011.
In a complaint, the NBI Task Force Against Illegal Drugs accused Espinosa of operating a large-scale shabu trade in Cebu City while detained at the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center, citing his sworn statements and testimony before the Senate in 2016, as basis.
The NBI said Espinosa allegedly used a cellphone inside the jail and resorted to electronic money transfer and bank transactions through the help of Melvin Gerpacio who allegedly distributed the illegal drugs and collected payments for him.
The complainant also cited Espinosa’s confession that he met Cebu’s alleged top drug lord Jeffrey Diaz alias Jaguar at the BBRC, from whom he supposedly learned how to operate the drug operations.
Jaguar was killed in a police operation in Las Piñas in June 2016.
In his testimony, Espinosa implicated Jaguar as his supplier, along with Lovely Impal alias Lovely Rasuman, who was arrested by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Iligan City in January 2017.
The self-confessed drug lord claimed Jaguar said their boss was Peter Lim, whom he described as the “no. 1 drug supplier” in Cebu.
Lim, who became controversial after meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte, and Espinosa’s co-sponsor in a wedding, has denied his involvement in the illegal drug trade. He was charged with several drug cases but remains at large.
Lim, Impal, Gerpacio are included in the complaint for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.
Also named respondents in the complaint were Wu Tuan Yuan alias Peter Co, Ryan Diaz and Reynaldo Diaz alias Jumbo.
Espinosa is currently under the custody of the NBI while Co is detained in the New Bilibid Prison. Impal is detained in Iligan City Jail, Gerpacio is in the Cavite Provincial Jail in Trece Martires, Cavite while Reynaldo Diaz is with the DOJ Witness Protection Program.
Lim and Ryan Diaz are still at large.
Reynaldo Diaz, Jaguar’s right-hand man, said that he communicated with Espinosa through cellphone and that Jaguar sourced his illegal drugs from Co and Impal.
Another witness, Marcelo Adorco who used to work for Espinosa, confirmed in his sworn statement that Lim, Impal and Co were Espinosa’s suppliers.