Kerwin Espinosa files complaints vs 7 cops

Albuera, Leyte mayoral candidate Kerwin Espinosa has filed frustrated murder complaints against 7 cops he believes were behind the attack against him earlier this month.

The charges were filed against 7 cops from Ormoc City as he claimed in his complaint-affidavit that the shooting incident was "politically motivated."

The complaint was filed at the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor in Baybay City, Leyte on April 24, 2025.

Espinosa was wounded in the shooting incident which took place during a campaign sortie in Barangay Tabgas last April 10.

According to a police report, Espinosa was waiting for his turn to speak when an unidentified man “hiding in the ceiling of the stage shot the victim from behind using an undetermined firearm.”

Also wounded were candidates for vice mayor Mariel Espinosa Marinay and a minor.

The Leyte Provincial Police Office has filed charges of illegal possession of firearms and violation of the election gun ban against seven policemen tagged in Espinosa's shooting.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) said the cops were found inside a compound where the suspected getaway vehicle proceeded amid a hot pursuit operation.

The seven cops, who are assigned at the Ormoc City Police Station, were wearing civilian clothing, according to the PNP. Two of them are officials, while the five others are non-commissioned officers.

The PNP, meanwhile, has relieved the head of the Ormoc City Police Chief Colonel Reydante Ariza amid the ongoing investigation.  —VAL, GMA Integrated News

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