Kerwin Espinosa appears at DOJ to affirm claim of drug payoffs to De Lima 

Self-confessed drug distributor Kerwin Espinosa went to the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday to affirm his claim that Senator Leila De Lima got P8 million in drug payoffs to boost her election campaign kitty last year.

Escorted by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Espinosa subscribed to his extrajudicial confession which he first issued to the Senate when he appeared before an inquiry on the killing of his father, Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa, last November.

Self-confessed drug distributor Kerwin Espinosa subscribes to his extrajudicial confession regarding drug payoffs to Sen. De Lima. @gmanews pic.twitter.com/lysInatb1O

— Virgil Lopez (@virgillopez) January 6, 2017

That extrajudicial confession has been used by the NBI to file drug charges against him, De Lima, and the senator's former driver-bodyguard Ronnie Dayan.

De Lima and Dayan skipped the preliminary investigation hearing of the DOJ panel led by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Peter Ong, but the senator was represented by counsel Boni Tacardon.

The panel submitted the case for resolution and rejected the request of Espinosa and De Lima's camps to give them another 15 days to file their counter-affidavits.

Before handing down its decision, the panel gave the respondents until January 13 to submit their written defense, but the panel changed its mind after Tacardon said he would have to consult De Lima on the matter.

Clarificatory questions were also posed to Espinosa, particularly on his meeting with De Lima in Baguio City sometime between November 19 to 22, 2015, where he and his common law wife had their photos taken with the former justice secretary.

Espinosa said he gave money to Dayan in several tranches from August 2015 to February 2016.

De Lima has denied the allegation, saying she does not know Espinosa and had never meet with him. However, the NBI said it was convinced that De Lima "benefited greatly" from the illegal drug trade.

"Whether this amount was actually used in the furtherance of her political ambitions is immaterial, as what is essential in this case is the fact that she made a demand for the money and she indeed received the same," the complaint stated.

"Also immaterial is whether or not she personally or directly received the so-called campaign contributions with her own hands, because Dayan, by his own separate and independent admission, confessed that he was acting for and in her behalf, with her blessing and according to her instructions when he did receive the money for her," it added.

De Lima earlier said she was no longer surprised with the fifth drug complaint slapped against her before the DOJ as she is expecting more cases "in this continuing saga of madness and persecution."

Espinosa, on the other hand, felt otherwise.

"Na-surprise po ako pero tanggap ko naman po," he told reporters.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said the DOJ will request for Espinosa's discharge as state witness should the prosecutors find probable cause to file the case in court. — KBK/RSJ, GMA News