Leyte solon: Albuera police prepared affidavit for Mayor Espinosa to extort money

A lawmaker on Wednesday hit back at policemen who took the affidavit of the late Albuera, Leyte Rolando Espinosa who allegedly tagged him as one of the protectors of the narcotics business of his son Kerwin. 

Appearing at the Senate probe into Espinosa's killing on November 5 inside his jail cell, Leyte Rep. Vicente "Ching" Veloso said the Albuera police made up the affidavits dated August 24 and October 3 so they could extort money from the 226 implicated individuals.

"They have to include 226 persons in the list in order for these Albuera police officers to extort money from many of them in consideration for them being dropped from the affidavits," Veloso said.

Denying any involvement in the illegal drug trade, Veloso said he has never met the Espinosas or any of the witnesses identified by Espinosa in his affidavit, which the former appellate court justice said should have instead been prepared in the mayor's mother tongue, Cebuano. 

Kerwin's protectors allegedly include government officials, police, military officers, and media men who received payoffs from him, according the affidavits executed by the mayor months before he died in an alleged shootout with policemen at a jail facility in Baybay City on November 5.

Apart from Veloso, the affidavit also accused politicians such as former Justice Secretary and now Senator Leila De Lima and Leyte Gov. Dominico Petilla of benefitting from Kerwin's drug operations in Eastern Visayas. 

De Lima and Petilla have since denied the allegations. — RSJ, GMA News