Lacson: Senate panel to probe Supt. Marcos' reinstatement

The Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs will launch an investigation into the reinstatement of Supt. Marvin Marcos to active duty, Senator Panfilo Lacson said Thursday.

"Yes, first week upon resumption," Lacson said in a text message to reporters when asked if he will conduct a probe.

The second regular session of Congress will open in two weeks, on July 24.

Lacson had condemned President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to reinstate Marcos, one of the police officials accused of homicide in connection to the death of Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa, Sr.

“It is not even a reinstatement. Rather, it was back-to-duty status after serving his four-month suspension order incorporated in a ‘slap-on-the-wrist’ administrative penalty,” pointed out Lacson, a former chief of the Philippine National Police.

The decision, he said, argued that Marcos was not physically present when his team at the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Region 8 (CIDG-8) supposedly attempted to serve a search warrant on Espinosa while he was inside his prison cell.

“According to the decision, Marcos was not physically present when the raiding team killed Espinosa and Raul Yap, but outside supervising the operation. The others were given demotions and 6-month suspension. This effectively disregarded the conspiracy angle,” Lacson said.

“In sum, there is a phrase to describe this whole damn thing: P— Ina!” he added.

Marcos was not only reinstated but was also assigned to head the CIDG-SOCCKSARGEN.

Marcos and his men at the CIDG-8 were able to walk out of detention last month, after the criminal charges against them were downgraded from murder to homicide, a bailable case.

Espinosa and another inmate, Raul Yap, died after allegedly putting up a fight against policemen serving search warrants inside the Leyte Sub-Provincial Jail in Baybay City on November 5. —JST/KVD, GMA News