EDITORIAL - Downgraded

The Baybay City Regional Trial Court will have the final say on this issue. But the way the prosecution is going, the death of the late mayor Rolando Espinosa of Albuera, Leyte might soon be attributed to suicide. And his accused killers led by police Superintendent Marvin Marcos could be cleared of all criminal charges and even receive a medal from Malacañang.

Such developments would be in keeping with President Duterte’s public pronouncements on Espinosa’s fatal shooting in his cell at the Leyte sub-provincial jail in Baybay City last November. Espinosa was detained after being tagged as a narco politician by the administration. The President, in so many words, said Espinosa had it coming and Marcos and his team simply did their job.

That position contrasted with the results of a probe conducted by the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs headed by Panfilo Lacson, who should be knowledgeable about law enforcement, being a former chief of the Philippine National Police. Lacson and the panel concluded that Espinosa’s killing was premeditated. A fellow inmate, Raul Yap, was also shot dead by Marcos’ and his 10 team members, who claimed they were serving the mayor a warrant before dawn to search his cell for illegal drugs. The team claimed Espinosa resisted and opened fire on the police.

As many quarters have pointed out, cops don’t need warrants to search jail cells. During the Senate probe, Marcos failed to satisfactorily explain who gave the green light for the operation. President Duterte cited the presumption of regularity in the police team’s conduct of his war on drugs.

Now Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre is saying he was carried away by the Senate findings and prosecutors failed to thoroughly study the case. While the Department of Justice rejected the petition of the accused to be cleared, downgrading the murder charge to homicide would make Marcos eligible for bail. This can open opportunities for him to take flight, like Peter Lim, tagged by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency as a top-tier drug trafficker, but who has reportedly managed to leave the country and avoid the fate of other drug suspects.

Espinosa might have indeed continued trafficking drugs from his jail cell and foolishly engaged the police in a firefight. This, however, is best established by the courts, with none of the accused killers receiving what senators say is special treatment. The war on drugs cannot be won through shortcuts in law enforcement.