THE arraignment of police Supt. Marvin Marcos and other police officials accused of conspiring to kill Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. has been reset again from April 26 to June 7.
This, after Baybay City Regional Trial Court Branch 14 Judge Carlos Arguelles on Wednesday granted the bid of the accused not to proceed with the arraignment until the Department of Justice (DOJ) resolves their petition for review, seeking the reversal of its resolution dated March 2.
The said DOJ resolution indicted for murder, malicious procurement of search warrant, and perjury 19 policemen belonging to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Region 8 and former inmate Paul Olendan for the killing of Espinosa and another inmate Raul Yap in their detention cell at the Leyte Sub-provincial jail in Baybay City last November 5.
The DOJ resolution said that there was a conspiracy among the policemen charged for Espinosa and Yap's killing.
This was the second time that the lower court judge granted the motion to delay the court's proceedings.
Earlier, the arraignment that was initially scheduled on March 29 has been reset to April 26 after Arguelles had granted the motions to defer proceedings by the accused.
The panel of DOJ prosecutors in charge with the complaint said the policemen, in guise of a legitimate search operation and armed with a search warrant, planned Espinosa and Yap's killing.
“The killings are qualified by evident premeditation since the attack was well planned. The records will show that respondents craftily executed the killings under the pretense of implementing a search warrant. They planned to kill Mayor Espinosa and Mr. Yap during the pre-operation meeting before the raid... Their unified act before, during and after the commission of the crime, prove respondents’ determination to kill the victims,” the resolution read.
Espinosa and Yap were alleged to had been possessing a firearm and illegal drugs, respectively.
The 19 policemen involved in the controversial raid are now under the custody of the CIDG Region 8 in Leyte. (SunStar Philippines)