{"id":93724,"date":"2017-03-13T07:24:53","date_gmt":"2017-03-13T11:24:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=93724"},"modified":"2017-03-13T07:24:53","modified_gmt":"2017-03-13T11:24:53","slug":"senate-probe-concludes-coverup-in-mayors-killing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/03\/13\/senate-probe-concludes-coverup-in-mayors-killing\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate probe concludes coverup in mayor\u2019s killing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: Unofficial Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa Solid Supporters\/Facebook.com<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Senate Committees on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs and on Justice and Human Rights state there was an overwhelming evidence to support that there was a cover-up in the killing of Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa and fellow inmate Raul Yap.<\/span><\/p>\n

Committee Chairs Sen. Panfilo Lacson and Sen. Richard Gordon said that Supt. Marvin Marcos and his men from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Region 8 (CIDG-8) \u201dcould have been prevented from doing their dastardly deed\u201d had they been relieved a month before they \u201csilenced\u201d Espinosa.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a 34-page report made on March 7, the committees also warned President Duterte about \u201cmicromanaging\u201d the Philippine National Police, as it was his decision to recall the said relief order if in the event it had been issued, the killing would\u2019ve been prevented. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe committees are of the opinion that the President should not be micromanaging the affairs of the government and should place his trust in the sound discretion of all his appointees, including PNP Chief Dela Rosa\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe should be given a free hand to decide on how to run the PNP and his decisions should be recognized and respected, and should be countermanded or reversed only by the Chief Executive in case of a clear showing of a grave abuse of discretion\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Committees strongly condemn the killing of Mayor Rolando Espinosa and Raul Yap. Though they have committed violations of our existing laws, the same is to be determined by our courts. Granting that certain freedoms are denied to detainees, including their right to privacy, they are still entitled to the fundamental right to life as guaranteed by the Constitution\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n

The report also ruled the following: 1) The Committees found it \u201cappalling\u201d that the jail guards and police personnel in charge of Espinosa\u2019s safety were \u201cdisarmed and forced to kneel down and face the wall\u201d by the CIDG men while conducting the raid, 2) \u201coverwhelming force\u201d was used when Marcos had reportedly brought in 18 CIDG men and six members from the Regional Maritime Unit as \u201cperimeter defense\u201d, 3) Espinosa and Yap had no firearms and illegal drugs in their possession, which was in contrast to the Police report made about the incident, 4) the Committees conclude that Espinosa was silenced by \u201cindividuals who wanted their participation concealed\u201d and that they have used their access and means to kill Espinosa \u201cthrough abuse of their authority\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was also cited that evidence was planted in the cells of Espinosa and Yap, and that Marcos and his men also took the hard drive of the CCTV cameras in the jail. The jail guards had affirmed that the cameras were functional on the day of the raid.<\/span>
\nKerwin Espinosa, Espinosa\u2019s son who was also named for his participation in the illegal drugs said before the Senate hearing that Chief Insp. Leo Laraga (who shot Rolando Espinosa) and Supt. Santi Noel Mitra had been on his payroll. This statement alone suggests that this is probably the main reason as to why Espinosa was killed. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senate Committees on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs and on Justice and Human Rights state there was an overwhelming evidence …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":93725,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,95,483],"tags":[10473,11147,16536,12650,16324,12724,3251],"class_list":["post-93724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news-ph","category-politics","tag-cidg","tag-extrajudicial-killings","tag-illegal-drugs-trade","tag-kerwin-espinosa","tag-operation-tokhang","tag-rolando-espinosa","tag-senate","mauthors-phoebe-balubar","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}