Senate bent on finding out motive in Espinosa killing

The Senate public order committee is bent on finding out the motive behind the death of Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa, senators said Friday, as President Rodrigo Duterte sided with the police version that it was a result of a shootout. 

“Gusto ko ma-establish, ang naiwanan sa imbestigasyon dito ang motibo. Ano ba talaga ang motibo para patayin si Mayor Espinosa?” Senator Panfilo Lacson, chairman of the committee, said in a radio dzBB interview. 

“Nagkakaisa naman kami [na] foregone conclusion na ang premeditated ang pagpatay kay Mayor Espinosa. Ang natitira na lang bakit, ano ang purpose?” he said. 

Lacson said it was not yet established whether the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Region 8 team, which carried out the operation, was behind Espinosa’s death. 

The CIDG claims Espinosa was killed in an alleged shootout inside his prison call at the Baybay provincial jail, when it tried to serve a search warrant on the mayor for alleged illegal possession of drugs and a firearm. 

Duterte believes police version

Upon returning from his two-day visit to Malaysia on Friday, Duterte said he believed the police’s account of events that led to Espinosa’s death on November 5. 

"Let me state my case as the chief executive of the executive branch: I believe in the version of the police," Duterte said. 

But Senator Grace Poe reminded Duterte that he himself vowed to hold accountable policemen who have committed wrongdoings. 

"Siguro taliwas ito sa sinasabi ng ating Pangulo noon na kung kahit ikaw man ay nasa gobyerno, kahit ikaw ay pulis kung mali ang ginagawa mo ikaw ay dapat managot. Mas lalo pa kung ikaw ay isang alagad ng batas o isang kawani ng gobyerno," Poe said. 

"Kaya siguro mabuti na pag-aralan ng mabuti itong mga ebidensiya na ilalahad sapagkat makikita naman talaga na maraming hindi gumawa ng naayon sa kanilang trabaho ang nangyari dito sa raid dito sa kulungan," she added. 

In the Senate hearing Thursday, a glaring inconsistency was disclosed after the regional police said that one of the CIDG men called for scene of the crime operatives (SOCO) around 40 minutes before Espinosa’s jail cell was entered by the team. 

“Lalo pang na-reinforce [na] nakararami na talagang may hindi magandang nangyari sa operation na yan,” noted Lacson, a former PNP chief. 

“Di naming inaakala ang magiging revelation doon. Naging katulong naming ang liderato ng PNP kahapon kasi open sila sa mga record,” he added. 

Senate President Pro-Tempore Franklin Drilon, for his part, said the Senate probe “should go on, to find the motive.”

“Testimonies at yesterday’s Senate hearing, unless rebutted, supports at least a prima facie case of a rubout,” Drilon said in a text message. 

Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said the Senate was “more concerned on who ordered the hit if it was indeed a hit.”

“Of course you should believe what the authorities say unless proven otherwise. In this case, the evidence and circumstances contradict the CIDG-8 story,” Sotto pointed out.

Duterte playing blind?

Senator Leila de Lima, a staunch critic of Duterte, said the President seems to "play blind" on what can be considered as proof of an extrajudicial killing. 

"I think the President has a tendency to be willfully blind where he feels it would reflect badly on him and his 'war on drugs'," De Lima said. 

She said Duterte was not protecting the PNP with his statement, but only himself from public criticism. 

"He is not really protecting the police -- in fact, he is destroying the institution by such explicit and unmitigated partiality -- he is really protecting himself from scrutiny and criticism," De Lima said. — RSJ, GMA News