CIDG chief: Dismissal of raps vs. Kerwin Espinosa won't affect De Lima case

The Philippine National Police's Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) on Wednesday said the dismissal of its complaint against Kerwin Espinosa and several others will not affect the drug charges against Senator Leila de Lima.

“They are not related, although there are facts na seeminly ang ating jurisprudence, yung ating mga applications sa batas ay puwedeng gamitin pero they are two separate and distinct cases, hindi ito magkatulad, hindi ito magkapareho, they are not related,” CIDG chief Director Roel Obusan said at a press briefing.

Obusan issued the statement after it was revealed that a prosecution panel of the Department of Justice has dropped drug trading complaints against Espinosa and other suspected drug personalities due to weak evidence.

Espinosa had testified during a Senate hearing in November 2016 that De Lima received drug money from him.

De Lima was charged and arrested in February 2017 for her alleged involvement in the illegal drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison while she was the Justice secretary during the time of former President Benigno Aquino III.

The embattled senator said the dismissal of drug trading charges against Espinosa proves that she is innocent, adding that it only shows that President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war is fake.

In a 41-page resolution approved by Acting Prosecutor General Jorge Catalan and dated December 20, 2017, said the "uncorroborated statements" of the complainant's witness, Marcelo Adorco, could not be admissible evidence against the respondents.

The resolution described Adorco as an "evidently self-serving witness."

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II has already formed a three-man panel of prosecutors tasked to handle the motion for reconsideration filed by the police.

He has also ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to probe the state prosecutors who dismissed the charges. —ALG/RSJ, GMA News