by Miriam G. Desacada
ALBUERA LEYTE–Drug lord suspect Rolan “Kerwin” Espinosa, who declared that he was already cleared of drug charges against him, on October 1 (Monday) filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) for mayor of Albuera town in Leyte.
Kerwin, in filing his COC was accompanied by his lawyer, and his full slate of candidates for local posts under his Bando Espinosa-Pundok Kausaban (BE-PK) party, with all of them wearing the party’s signature blue shirts.
Kerwin is bound to a three-cornered fight against reelectionist Mayor Sixto dela Victoria, and Leyte Board Member (4th district) Vince Rama, husband of Ormoc City councilor Caren Torres-Rama and brother-in-law of Mayor Lucy Torres-Gomez.
Overheard that some sources had scoffed at the news of Kerwin’s candidacy prompting him and his party to hold a media conference yesterday afternoon (Oct. 5), saying that he “wanted to clarify all questions and allegations thrown at him that dirtied his name and his family, Espinosa.”
In a mix of Tagalog, Bisaya, and English, Kerwin answered queries from the local media, especially on the various drug cases filed against him in court.
“I owe this to Allah, He did not abandon me and the truth prevailed that I am innocent of the illegal drug trade. With the mercy of Allah and God I am very thankful that all the drug cases against me were dismissed. I have not taken yet the witness stand and testified, I had not yet formally defended myself, but the court had decided to junk the cases for lack of evidences, and for lack of sufficient bases,” said Kerwin.
“I will not blame the media because the past administration (Duterte) made up stories against me especially Senator Bato who accused me as a member of a drug syndicate. The description of me as ‘self-confessed drug lord’ was misleading and was not true because, when I testified in the Senate I was forced to admit that I have links to illegal drug trade. If you were in my shoes I knew you will also do the same just to save your skin. I had to save my life, my family, at the time. Killings were already happening here and there, anywhere, that can no longer count the victims anymore,” Kerwin narrated.
“Even without proof of drugs links, suspects were killed. This time, I wish I will no longer be tagged as “self-confessed (drug lord) anymore because all the drug cases against me were already dismissed by the courts,” he added.
Kerwin said he will testify against Duterte for extrajudicial killing (EJK) cases currently investigated by the International Criminal Court (ICC). “Let us allow the investigation process to proceed to attain justice so that the real guilty man shall be ferreted out, the real criminal shall be held accountable and jailed,” Kerwin said.
He also accused Senator Bato dela Rosa as the one who was directing law enforcement agencies on who among the prominent personalities and politicians would be linked to the illegal drugs trade in the country. “That’s why I was included among those tagged as drug lords,” he said.
When asked about the government’s war against illegal drugs, he replied: “I will not preempt the government’s present plan and ways to stop the illegal drug trade in the country. But if you ask me if I can resolve the drug problems in Albuera and implement a zero tolerance vs illegal drugs in this town, I tell you that, this early, I am already helping our police here to gradually eliminate this problem here, and make Albuera a drug-free town.” —Miriam G. Desacada