MANILA: The Senate hopes that alleged drug lord Kerwin Espinosa will shed light on his father’s suspicious killing when he faces the Senate next week, Sen. Panfilo Lacson has said.
“Remember, we want to get to the bottom of what the motive is. Kerwin might have an idea why his father was killed,” Inquirer quoted Lacson as saying.
Lacson, chair of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, reportedly said he would also invite the police to appear at the continuation of the inquiry into the Nov. 5 killing of Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa.
Espinosa returned to the Philippines under heavy guard early yesterday from the United Arab Emirates where he and his family fled to escape President Duterte’s brutal war on drugs, the report said.
Lacson reportedly said “jueteng” whistleblower Sandra Cam, who had spoken to Espinosa in Abu Dhabi, told him Espinosa confirmed the names of several people allegedly found in his father’s “blue book.”
“She [Cam] said [Espinosa] had revelations. He confirmed who is on payola [payoff]. He confirmed what was on the blue book. There were names that were validated,” Lacson was quoted as saying.
Asked if the names included a senator, Lacson reportedly said: “It’s better that he says it.”
The ledger submitted by Espinosa to the police purportedly contains names of politicians, members of the judiciary, military, police, jail and anti-drug officers, said the news portal.
Cam’s secretary, an overseas worker based in Abu Dhabi, had reportedly tipped her on Espinosa and she passed this on to authorities.
Police had earlier testified at the Senate that Espinosa allegedly gave money to Sen. Leila de Lima during a meeting in Baguio early this year, the report said.
Asked about Espinosa’s expected testimony, De Lima said she won’t be surprised if she is again implicated by him.
“That would be the best way of staying alive. I have a hunch that that’s what’s going to happen, because they have made an example of his father,” De Lima was quoted as saying by Inquirer. “He has no choice … I can foresee that he will also lie.”
