Witness against Kerwin blames PNP investigators for 'wrong' details in affidavits

Marcelo Adorco, a government witness against self-confessed drug distributor Kerwin Espinosa, on Friday attributed to police investigators apparent inconsistencies in his written testimonies against the alleged Eastern Visayas drug lord.

Espinosa's trial hearing on drug trading charges at the Manila regional trial court Branch 26 saw his lawyers grilling Adorco, his late father's bodyguard, on the veracity of his claims in affidavits submitted to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Questions of language for Adorco, who speaks Cebuano, also marked the hearing in the absence of an official translator, resulting in the judge himself, Silvino Pampilo Jr., having to do most of the interpretation. 

The lone witness of the police's Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in a previously dismissed but now reactivated complaint before the DOJ, Adorco had executed affidavits purporting drug transactions involving Espinosa and other alleged drug personalities.

Jesus Obejero Jr., one of Espinosa's lawyers, asked Adorco during cross-examination if four alleged transactions with businessman and alleged drug lord Peter Lim was each for 30 kilos of shabu, same as that with convicted drug lord Peter Co.

But Adorco at the witness stand said the amount was only 20 kilos.

When asked by Obejero on where four transactions between Espinosa and Lim until 2015 -- allegedly involving 200 kilos of shabu in total -- took place, he said a "hypermarket" in Makati.

When a court employee read aloud the document upon instruction by the judge, it was revealed that Adorco's affidavit said the transactions took place at the parking lot of a Cash & Carry branch in Makati City.

“So you are changing your answer now? It's not Hypermarket, it's Cash and Carry?” asked Obejero.

“Yes, sir,” said Odorco as repeated by Pampilo, the judge, to the defense lawyer.

Adorco's knowledge of car models was also put to the test after Obejero asked which vehicle figured in a meeting with Lim and Espinosa in Thailand. Adorco said during the hearing that it was a white Toyota Alphard.

"How do you know that it was an Alphard car when you cannot read and write?" Obejero asked Adorco, who only reached first grade in school.

"I know cars, sir," said Adorco as translated by the judge. He said he was sure.

He was then shown a printed copy of a car. Adorco identified it as a Land Cruiser. But Obejero said it was, in fact, a Toyota Sequoia.

Though Adorco said the vehicle was an Alphard, his affidavit said the vehicle was a Toyota Prado.

"I told the investigator Alphard but the investigator put in Prado," the judge said, translating for Adorco.

"Are you saying, Mr. Witness, the investigator had difficulty hearing?" Obejero asked.

"No, sir, but he committed [a] mistake," the judge said, again for Adorco. He said the affidavit was read to him before he signed it, but that he just listened, adding that he could not remember if it was Prado, and not Alphard, that was read to him.

More, Adorco said it was Lim who called Espinosa on the phone while they were in Thailand, contrary to his affidavit which claimed it was Espinosa who called Lim. 

"You are saying again that the investigator made an error here?" the defense lawyer asked.

"Yes sir, it was the fault of the investigator," said Adorco, again, as translated by Pampilo.

The investigator supposedly made another error over the year when he and Espinosa met Lim. He said it was 2015. The affidavit: 2013.

Adorco's affidavits are with the DOJ for its reopened preliminary investigation into a dismissed drug complaint against Espinosa, Lim, Co, and several other alleged drug personalities. —JST, GMA News