Herbie Gomez
FOLLOWING his trip to Thailand and Malaysia last month, President Duterte said of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group’s account on the killing of Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa: “I believe in the version of the police. If they have evidence to prove otherwise, then a case should be filed against the police.”
He said the police have nothing to be afraid of. Duterte was also quoted as saying: “They’ve got my protection. I will support them” and “I will protect and I will support the police in this drive against shabu.” These were his pronouncements in November.
Early last week, National Police Director General Ronald dela Rosa said on national TV that he relieved, and then reinstated the head of the CIDG in Region 8 because he was called and told to by someone who outranks him.
Dela Rosa had relieved Supt. Marvin Marcos, the CIDG chief for Region 8, on suspicion that he had links to the illegal drug trade. Espinosa’s son Kerwin would later tell senators that Marcos was on the take and had actually asked P3 million from him in exchange for protection, accusations the police official denied.
Note that Supt. Marcos was relieved and then reinstated before Espinosa was killed. There is a video clip of dela Rosa telling broadcaster Karen Davila that Marcos was relieved before (not after but before) Mayor Espinosa was killed. And then he was reinstated. Note, too, that Marcos led the CIDG team that killed Espinosa.
Based on the incredible account of the Marcos-led team, the politician cum drug suspect tried to fight off the heavily armed officers with a warrant while the mayor was inside a prison facility in the wee hours of Nov. 5, a tale the jail warden and other jailers, and inmates contradicted--they said Espinosa was unarmed, and there was no shootout.
Espinosa’s killing really looked premeditated. It was so blatant.
Now, President Duterte admits that it was he who ordered the reinstatement of Supt. Marcos. Why?
Duterte’s reason: he was supposedly doing investigative work, and he wanted Marcos back so he could keep track of his movements.
If Duterte was really keeping track of Marcos’s movements, then why is Espinosa dead? Why wasn’t Duterte able to stop an alleged narco-politician with very useful information from being silenced? Or was Supt. Marcos, the alleged protector, receiving protection from Malacañang itself? Again, Duterte said of Supt. Marcos and his team in November: “They’ve got my protection...” The President’s words.
Dreadful.
The Duterte administration has yet to go down to the roots of the drug problem. What the public is seeing are “responders,” mostly drug users, coming out in the open, small fries getting caught, and occasionaly, millions of pesos worth of shabu being seized. But the drug trade continues because the government has not really done anything substantial to get rid of the shabu supply for good.
The worst thing that could happen is for Filipinos to wake up one day with the realization that the so-called war on drugs is actually a war being waged on the competition. I hope not. Pastilan.
