PRESIDENTIAL Spokesperson Harry Roque on Thursday, June 11, said concerned government agencies were conducting an investigation into the alleged illegal drug activities of self-confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa even while in detention at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
“Kinumpirma po namin kay Secretary (Eduardo) Año at itong bagay na ito ay alam or iniimbestigahan ng mga otoridad lalong lalo na po ng DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government) at ng PDEA (Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency) pero hindi po natin pwede maisapubliko kung anong mga hakbang na ginagawa nila,” Roque said in a televised press briefing.
“It is a confidential information pero hindi po bulag, hindi po bingi ang ating mga alagad ng batas,” he added.
He made the statement after Lieutenant Colonel Jovie Espenido revealed that among those who were either killed or arrested in the series of anti-narcotics operations of the police in Taguig, Bulacan and Parañaque, which resulted in the recovery of billions worth of illegal drugs, were people who worked for Espinosa as drug couriers in his hometown in Albuera, Leyte.
Read: Espenido links Kerwin Espinosa to huge drug hauls
On May 22, police killed Ryan Labandaria of Leyte and Ervyn Querubin of Cebu in a shootout following a drug bust in Taguig City. Police seized shabu worth P81.6 million in that operation.
On June 4, siblings Angelica and Maria Lyn Tulio were arrested in a shabu warehouse in Marilao, Bulacan. Espenido said they worked for Espinosa in Albuera. More than P5.6 billion worth of shabu, or 827 kilograms, were recovered.
Angelica is allegedly the partner of Yuwen Cai, caretaker of the shabu warehouse in Bulacan. Cai was also arrested.
On June 6, Cai’s son Jin Long Cai was killed in a shootout following a drug bust in Parañaque City. Also killed was Danny Apiga, who had also worked for Espinosa, according to Espenido. Recovered from Apiga and the younger Cai were 36 kilograms of shabu worth P244.8 million.
In an interview on Thursday, June 11, Taguig City Police Chief Celso Rodriguez said they recovered identification cards from Labandaria and Querubin, indicating that they were NBI assets.
Rodriguez said they were still validating the authenticity of the documents recovered from the two.
Meanwhile, a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity said Labandaria and Querubin were Espinosa’s frequent visitors at the NBI.
The source said it was Espinosa who secured the NBI certification in order for Labandaria and Querubin to freely move despite the lockdown in the past three months.
The NBI has yet to comment on the matter.
Espenido was the former chief of police of Albuera town and once headed the investigation into Espinosa’s involvement in illegal drugs.
Espinosa’s father, the late Albuera town mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr., surrendered to the police after he was named by President Rodrigo Duterte as one of the narco-politicians on his watch list.
The older Espinosa was killed by the operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) inside his detention cell in Baybay Leyte sub-provincial jail.
Espinosa was detained by the NBI over his involvement in illegal drugs but he was later on placed under the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Witness Protection Program (WPP) after his revelation during a Senate investigation that implicated former Justice secretary now Senator Leila de Lima. (SunStar Philippines)