Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 19) — The Department of Justice will file charges against self-confessed drug lord Rolan “Kerwin” Espinosa along with several others for their supposed involvement in the illegal drug trade in Eastern Visayas.
In a resolution dated July 23, the DOJ said that “upon careful evaluation of the facts and evidence adduced by the parties and applying the foregoing provisions of law,” they found probable cause to charge Espinosa and the following individuals for conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading:
Marcelo Adorco
Jose Antipuesto
Alfred Cres Batistis
Galo Stephen Bobares
Nickjune Canin
Virbeca Diano
Josela Dumaguit
Jose Jernie Estrera
Ferdinand Rondina
Brian Anthony Zaldivar
The resolution said the affidavits of the respondents showed these contained statements where they described their “respective participation in the illegal drug trade of respondent Kerwin which partake in the nature of extrajudicial confessions, i.e. out of court confessions.”
“Clearly, due to the complexities of transactions alleged in the instant case…it is sufficient that the communications among and between the respondents are established to prove the illegal drug trade,” said the DOJ.
Espinosa is the son of Rolando Espinosa Sr., who was mayor of Albuera, Leyte.
Police arrested the elder Espinosa over charges of illegal possession of dangerous drugs and firearms in 2016. Both father and son were tagged by President Rodrigo Duterte in his list of alleged illegal drug coddlers and traffickers.
In the same year, the younger Espinosa was arrested in Abu Dhabi, while mayor Espinosa was killed in a shootout in his jail cell.
