‘Leila, cops protected me’

Kerwin: I gave P8 M to De Lima

MANILA, Philippines – At the height of his illegal drug business from 2012 to 2015, Rolando “Kerwin” Espinosa Jr. was earning some P15 million every 40 days, with half of the proceeds going to some 15 police officials as “protectors.” He had hoped to go big time by giving a total of P8 million to Sen. Leila de Lima.

Facing the Senate committee on public order yesterday, Kerwin detailed his rise from a lowly pusher to a drug lord covering Eastern Visayas and how he purportedly gave cash to De Lima through her driver and bodyguard Ronnie Dayan.

The committee, chaired by Sen. Panfilo Lacson, is conducting an investigation into the killing of Kerwin’s father and namesake, Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. inside a jail cell in Baybay, Leyte last Nov. 5 by police officers serving a search warrant.

The younger Espinosa testified that he started pushing drugs, particularly shabu, in 2004 by the gram, earning a few thousand pesos a week.

His business grew but he was busted in 2005 in Cebu. Ironically, it was while he was
detained for three years in Lahug, Cebu that he began going big time, after he met Jeffrey Diaz alias Jaguar, a suspected drug lord who sold drugs from jail using mobile phones.

Diaz was killed last June 17 in Las Piñas City by Central Visayas policemen out to arrest another suspected drug lord.

Kerwin was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2008 and was brought to the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), where he was enticed by rival gangs to join them in their drug trade.

Kerwin joined the group of Peter Co – who remains at the NBP – and conducted his flourishing business using mobile phones, couriers and bank transactions in Binondo, Manila.

Sometime in 2009 or 2010, the Court of Appeals overturned his conviction and he was released. After spending some time with his family, he resumed his business in 2011 in the Visayas and by this time, he was selling eight to 10 kilos of shabu every 40 days.

It was also at this time that he began giving weekly payola to police officials under his “happy all” policy, Kerwin told senators.

From 2012 to 2016, he had nearly 20 police officials receiving weekly payola ranging from P5,000 to P25,000, which he wrote off as “SOP” (standard operating procedure).

“These (payola) were for protection. My people won’t be killed or arrested. Whenever there will be raids, we’ll be tipped off, and it will be negative,” Kerwin said.

He named a certain police general Dolina, who asked for P500,000 monthly but he was able to haggle the amount down to P300,000 through an intermediary named Victor Espina in 2015.

Kerwin could have been referring to Chief Supt. Asher Dolina, former regional police director of Eastern Visayas.

Kerwin testified he deposited three checks – P3 million, P2 million and P1 million – sometime February that year as Dolina reportedly sought an “advance” from him.

He also named then Chief Supt. Vicente Loot as receiving P100,000 monthly plus P20,000 to Chief Insp. Leon Laraga, who admitted to shooting the elder Espinosa.

Loot, now mayor of Daanbantayan in Cebu, was earlier tagged by President Duterte as one of five narco-generals.

Kerwin also tagged Laraga’s superior, Supt. Marvin Marcos, and other police officers who conducted the raid that led to his father’s death as receiving money from him.

Marcos, he said, got a total of P3 million from him days before the elections last May to fund the vice mayoralty bid of his ex-wife in exchange for “protection” for his father’s bid to be mayor of Albuera as head of augmenting PNP force for the elections.

Meeting with De Lima      

Sometime in August 2015 as he was about to go diving in Batangas, Kerwin said he received a call from Chief Insp. Jovie Espenido, the police chief of Albuera town, telling him to expect a call from a driver-bodyguard of De Lima.

Suspicious as he was not on good terms with Espenido, he called Co and Diaz to check on whether De Lima was really raising funds for her campaign – the two on the other end of the line said “she’s OK.”

He later learned the driver-bodyguard was Ronnie Dayan, who said De Lima – who recently admitted to having relations with him – wanted P2 million monthly.

After some haggling, Kerwin said he was able to bring down the amount to P700,000 but Dayan told him De Lima wanted “goodwill money” of P2 million. The money was delivered that same month at the parking lot of a mall in Pasay City.

“Pare, Ma’am said before the elections, you must be able to give P8 million, and you can talk after the elections,” Kerwin quoted Dayan as telling him in Filipino after the first delivery of cash.

He delivered P1.7 million the following October at a restaurant in Pasay City. Suspicious that Dayan might just be pocketing the cash, Kerwin asked to meet De Lima.

Dayan told Kerwin that his codename is “Batman” and gave instructions for a meeting in Burnham Park in Baguio City that pushed through around Nov. 21 or 22.

Dayan introduced him as “Batman” in a crowded portion of the park and De Lima simply nodded at him. After turning over P2 million to Dayan in the parking lot, the then driver-bodyguard asked if he wanted a picture with De Lima, to which he agreed.

De Lima agreed to have a picture taken with Kerwin and his common-law wife. The picture was later shown at the hearing.

Spurious

At the same hearing, Kerwin also testified that the affidavit reportedly executed by his slain father was fabricated.

There were two affidavits reportedly prepared by the mayor, the signatures of which were different. The younger Espinosa insisted the signature in the affidavit was not his father’s.

The affidavits purportedly executed by the elder Espinosa named various personalities as being involved in the illegal drug trade. 

Kerwin said his father was in no position to say anything about his drug dealings because he was not involved in any way.

He maintained his father was innocent and Espenido implicated him because he had a grudge against him.

It was also revealed during the hearing that the affidavits of the mayor were executed without the assistance of a lawyer as required by law.

The mayor’s lawyer Lanie Villarino said the affidavits were executed under duress as relayed to her by the mayor himself.

She said Espinosa had informed her that he was made to sign the affidavit after he was promised to be placed under the Witness Protection Program and the cases against him would be dropped.

The mayor reportedly maintained a blue book or ledger of personalities who were on the take in the illegal drug operations.

Kerwin, however, denied this but he named the people who were benefiting from his illegal drug operations. 

When asked about certain personalities who were earlier reportedly included in the list, Kerwin dismissed them all, saying he did not know them personally.

Among them is Leyte Rep. Vicente Veloso, who attended the hearing at the Senate.

During the hearing, Marcos, Espenido and Laraga all denied Kerwin’s allegations that they were on the take.

Marcos added he was responsible for the filing of the case that led to Kerwin’s arrest in Abu Dhabi earlier this month.

What now?

Sen. Grace Poe asked Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa on the next step to be taken against the police officers named by Kerwin.

Dela Rosa replied the police officials implicated by Kerwin had been on floating status and confined to the PNP’s Personnel and Holding and Accounting Unit in Camp Crame.

He explained the police officials are under custody of the PNP-Internal Affairs Service (IAS) for hearing and investigation.

Dela Rosa broke into tears after learning that several top PNP officials were implicated by Kerwin in the illegal drug trade.

“I cannot blame the public for losing trust and faith in the police. Sometimes, I don’t know anymore who to trust, who really is in and out in the drug business,” an emotional Dela Rosa told the senators.

“I’m having difficulty adjusting to all these but please understand… that we’re just human,” he said.

But he maintained there are still many good police officers that the public can trust.

On the other hand, Chief Supt. Leo Angelo Leuterio, deputy inspector general of the IAS, said investigators have taken and secured the affidavit of a witness corroborating Kerwin’s allegations.

“The story that they have been telling us in our record and what we are hearing now from Kerwin Espinosa’s affidavit are corroborative so it may fit, what he was telling us and what we are hearing from him right now,” Leuterio said.

Leuterio said he has recommended the immediate relief of the police officials implicated by Kerwin.

“I will recommend that they will be dismissed from the service and I will assist CIDG (Criminal Investigation and Detection Group) in filing criminal case against these people,” he added.