Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — The Philippine National Police has started investigating the deaths of Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa and another inmate inside the Leyte Provincial Jail during a police operation on Saturday — but there may be irregularities here, according to the regional police chief.
Read: Albuera Mayor Espinosa, 1 other inmate killed in jail cell shootout – CIDG
Chief Supt. Elmer Beltejar, director of the Eastern Visayas Regional Police, cited five inconsistencies in the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Region 8’s search operation that lead to the deaths of Espinosa and Raul Yap:
The CIDG Region 8 failed to inform Beltejar as regional director about their operation.
The CIDG Region 8 left its coordination sheet with the desk officer on duty, instead of discussing the operation with the Baybay City police, which has jurisdiction over Leyte Provincial Jail.
The search warrant states that the CIDG Region 8 is allowed to search cells number one and two, where Espinosa and Yap were detained, respectively. But the CIDG carried its operations at cells number one and seven.
Beltejar said it wasn’t normal that the jail guards were not present when the search was being carried out.
The hard drive containing CCTV footage inside the jail is missing. Baltejar said some witnesses say the CIDG officials took the hard drive.
Read: Lawmakers: Espinosa’s death smells of extrajudicial killing, reeks of irregularities
The members of the CIDG team led by Chief Inspector Leo Laraga are now in restrictive custody at the the agency’s headquarters in Tacloban City.
Some officials from the CIDG National Headquarters went to Leyte on Sunday to carry-out its own investigation.
But they refused to comment since the investigation is ongoing.
According to Laraga, a shootout between the inmates and CIDG officials ensued during the operation.
Espinosa was one of the government officials tagged in President Duterte’s narcolist.
He was arrested for illegal possession of drugs and firearms on October 5.
His son Kerwin Espinosa, an alleged drug lord, was arrested in Abu Dhabi. Authorities there are processing Kerwin’s deportation to Manila where he is facing drug trafficking charges.
CNN Philippines’ Gerg Cahiles contributed to this report.
