EDITORIAL - Conspiracy to kill

After grilling the players involved, senators said the killing of Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa and another inmate in a Leyte jail appeared premeditated and followed a “bad script.” Now the National Bureau of Investigation, after conducting its own probe, has reached a similar conclusion, describing the killing as a “rubout” and citing a “conspiracy” to kill. The NBI filed murder charges the other day against members of the regional police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

CIDG officials claimed they went to the Leyte sub-provincial jail in Baybay City before dawn on Nov. 5 to serve a search warrant on Espinosa and inmate Raul Yap for guns and drugs. Why a warrant was needed to search a government detention facility is a mystery. The Supreme Court has launched an investigation of Judge Tarcelo Sabarre Jr. of the Regional Trial Court in Basey, Samar who issued the search warrant.

The CIDG members led by Superintendent Marvin Marcos may have failed to sell their story to senators and the NBI, but the police team has one powerful ally. President Duterte, who had announced upon his arrival from Peru that he believed the CIDG version of events, said yesterday that he had not changed his mind.

The President also seemed mystified by the concern over the death of a man he had described as a narco politician, as he defended anew his brutal war on illegal drugs. His reaction prompted at least one senator to openly voice suspicions that the President himself had ordered Espinosa killed.

Even crime suspects have rights guaranteed under the Constitution. Espinosa’s death has raised public concern because of what appears to be a brazen disregard for due process and a subsequent cover-up. Also of valid public concern was that administration officials were caught lying through their teeth on who ordered Marcos reinstated after the CIDG officer was relieved by Philippine National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa.

Now President Duterte is contradicting the findings of the NBI, an agency that is part of the executive branch. Being the Chief Executive, the President can influence the outcome of probes conducted by the NBI and prosecutors of the Department of Justice. Especially when he is known to hold such strong views about a particular case. No matter how much he might dislike Espinosa, as an official sworn to uphold justice and the rule of law, the President must let government probers do their work unimpeded and allow due process to take its course.