Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 14) — A Senate committee that concluded a mayor was “murdered” during a police raid, re-investigates the suspended suspects’ return to duty.
Public Order and Dangerous Drugs committee chairman Senator Ping Lacson said his committee will conduct an investigation on the return to work of Supt. Marvin Marcos, who faces homicide charges over the killing of an alleged drug lord, Albuera, Leyte town Mayor Rolando Espinosa.
The committee will convene as soon as it resumes session on July 24, when President Rodrigo Duterte delivers his second State of the Nation Address (SONA).
“Yes, first week upon resumption,” Lacson said in a text message when asked if there will be an investigation on Marcos. The police official was given a new assignment as chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Region 12, which has jurisdiction over South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sarangani, Sultan Kudarat, and General Santos City.
Marcos led a team of 18 policemen on a raid in November 5, 2016 in the jail cell of Espinosa, who was among dozens of government officials tagged by President Duterte as abetting the illegal drug trade. Espinosa and another inmate were killed.
Related: Albuera Mayor Espinosa, 1 other inmate killed in jail cell shootout – CIDG
Marcos and the 18 other co-accused are also back to work, Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Ronald Dela Rosa said Thursday.
Senators expressed disgust at the announcement.
Related: Senators condemn Marcos’ return to duty
But Senator Richard Gordon, chair of the Committee on Justice and Human Rights which joined Lacson’s committee in investigating the Espinosa slay, said Duterte committed a grave mistake.
“It’s very, very wrong on the part of the president because he should not interfere in the justice system,” Gordon told CNN Philippines on Thursday.
Duterte on Wednesday ordered the PNP to allow him to resume active duty. As the administration launched its war on drugs, the President has stood by Marcos and other policemen linked to Espinosa’s killing, saying he will never let any of his men to go to jail in the performance of their duties.
Palace open to probe
Malacañang on Friday said they are willing to cooperate if Lacson holds a legislative hearing.
“The government through the PNP will cooperate with any investigation… We have always participated in hearings and we will abide by that,” Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella said at a Malacañang press briefing.
Abella clarified the move to allow Marcos to resume police duties should not be called a reinstatement, since Marcos was never dismissed from the police force.
“Correction, it’s not a reinstatement. He was never dismissed. He was just suspended. So basically that is the process, he was suspended, he served his suspension and he’s back, back on active duty,” Abella said. He appeared irked as one reporter asked why the President “can’t let Marcos go.”
It was the second time that Marcos was temporarily removed from office.
Marcos was relieved on October 15, 2016 over his alleged involvement in the drug trade of Kerwin Espinosa, son of the late mayor, in the Visayas, but was reinstated on the same day, upon Duterte’s orders.
On November 7, 2016, Marcos was removed as head of CIDG- Eastern Visayas after leading the unit that killed Espinosa and one other inmate Raul Yap at the Baybay City sub-provincial jail in Leyte on November 5, 2016.
After conducting separate investigations later in November 2016, the Senate and the National Bureau of Investigation both said Espinosa was murdered.
A local court issued a warrant of arrest against Marcos, and he surrendered to authorities in March 2017, spending three months in detention before being allowed to post bail.
Marcos and his men were released on June 16 upon posting bail at P40,000 each. They were allowed to do so after the Justice Department downgraded their case from murder to homicide, stating there was no evidence of a plan to kill the victims.
The suspects claimed they shot Espinosa in self-defense after he refused the search warrant and allegedly fired at them using a gun he managed to sneak into his jail cell.
In the November 23, 2016 Senate hearing on the Espinosa slay, PNP police chief Dela Rosa broke down in tears as he lamented he could not blame the public for losing faith in the police.
But on July 13, Dela Rosa appealed to the public to trust the PNP’s decision.
“May IAS (Internal Affairs Services) na nag-imbestiga at nagpatakbo sa kaso niya. Kung ang ibinigay sa kanya hindi dismissal, suspension lang or whatever lower than what is expected by the public, may mga rason yan kung bakit,” Dela Rosa said.
[Translation: “There’s an IAS who investigated his case. If Marcos was given a dismissal, suspension, or a sanction lower than what is expected by the public, there are reasons for that.”]
CNN Philippines’ Cecille Lardizabal contributed to this report.
This story was updated on July 26 to include details on the reopening of probe.
