PRO-8: We must win drug cases in courts

PALO, LEYTE, Philippines —The police force should not just rack up arrests and surrenderers in its Project Double Barrel but must also win the numerous drug cases that police offices have filed in courts against suspects.

This was the declaration of Chief Superintendent Elmer Beltejar, regional director of the Police Regional Office-8, who told The Freeman that—from time to time—his office is conducting case monitoring and review with the police legal officers and prosecutors to ensure a high conviction rate against those charged in court.

Last October 18, Chief Inspector Jovie Espenido, chief of the Albuera Police in Leyte, attended a conference with state prosecutors at the Bulwagan ng Katarungan in Tacloban City for discussion on the cases filed against Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr., and son, the alleged drug lord Rolando “Kerwin” Espinosa Jr.

Espenido has been preparing for the coming trials of the Espinosas at the Regional Trial Court of Baybay where the mayor and son Kerwin are facing charges for illegal possession of firearms and explosives, and violation of Republic Act 9165 (Comprehensive Drugs Act of 2002).

The public prosecutors, led by Regional State Prosecutor Irwin Maraya and Provincial Prosecutor Arlene Huñamayor-Cordovez, said there should be a no-lapse prosecution of the cases against the Espinosas, as well as the others who were also charged for being alleged protectors and recipients of drug payola from the two.

Data earlier released to the media by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) disclosed that from year 2002 to 2014, a total of 106,092 drug cases were filed in court, but only 5,265 of these or five percent resulted in conviction.

Around 19,585 cases or 18.46 percent ended up in plea bargain settlement, while a total of 9,051 or eight percent led to acquittal and 5,269 or five percent to dismissal.

Beltejar said the statistics and recent acquittals in drug cases were those in the period before the full-swing implementation of the Project Double Barrel, a component of which is Oplan Tokhang for low-risk drug personalities.

“As per our records from July 1 to today, we only have two dropped cases at the prosecutors, however we have filed more than 300 hundred cases of drug cases,” said Beltejar. The dropped cases were due to insufficient evidences obtained by law enforcers that could not withstand the requirement of probable cause, he said.

Beltejar said, the Espinosa case is an air-tight case with “so many corroborating evidences against them (Kerwin and the mayor) so (the police) took time filing cases against them. He said: “We have so many evidences to file against them, (albeit) we deem these cases air-tight, as well as in the filing of additional cases against others in the so-called “payola list” of the Espinosas.

On October 13, the Albuera Police Station filed before the Ombudsman drugs complaint against former Justice secretary now Senator Leila De Lima and Barangay Binulho (Albuera town) Councilman Nelson Pepito Jr., and drug cases before the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office against lawyer Jonah John Ungab, Ormoc City businessman Wennie Codilla, and three Ormoc-based journalists Lalaine Marcos-Jimenea, John Pilapil, and Leo Dumon.

Based on the local police’s investigations and evidence-gathering, De Lima was allegedly receiving drug protection money from Kerwin, while the journalists were allegedly receiving from P8,000 to P10,000 in weekly payola from the Espinosas.

In various news posts the three journalists who are based in west coast of Leyte denied these accusations claiming that these were payments for advertisements and sponsorships. These cases are yet being resolved at the prosecutor’s office if there exists probable cause in these cases against the respondents.

Meanwhile, Beltejar assured the public: “We do not tolerate EJK (extra judicial killing),” but “in fact are investigating all those cases and abide by our police operational procedures and respect human rights.” Eastern Visayas has very low EJK cases compared to other regions, as neutralizing drug personalities are done via lawful police operations, he added. (FREEMAN)