Two Senate committees have said that the killing of Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa by policemen inside the sub-provincial jail in Baybay City, Leyte last November 5 was premeditated.
The Senate Justice and Human Rights and Public Order and Dangerous Drugs Committees in Committee Report No. 46 stated that their findings were based on thorough consideration of established procedures, jurisprudence, and ordinary human experience as well as testimonies offered and documents submitted during the joint hearings.
The 11-page committee report signed by Sen. Richard J. Gordon and Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson, chairpersons of the Justice and Public Order committees, respectively, said that operatives of the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group headed by Supt. Marvin Marcos committed grave abuse of authority.
It stressed that the odds of being killed by the police while one is on detention inside a government facility “seemed very unlikely, until now.’’
The two committees also said the serving of arrest warrants at 4:30 a.m. on Espinosa for alleged illegal possession of firearms was unreasonable.
There was also no need to get a search warrant for Espinosa to be served at the jail since they could just have coordinated with the jail warden, they added.
The committees urged President Duterte to refrain from micro-managing the affairs of the PNP after it reinstated Marcos despite a standing dismissal order by PNP Director General Roland M. dela Rosa.
It noted the recall of Dela Rosa’s order relieving Marcos and his men from the PNP CIDG Region 8 by the President himself. (Mario B. Casayuran)
