Defunct anti-drug unit failed to submit Kerwin’s confession to CIDG

The Philippine National Police-Anti-Illegal Drugs Group (PNP-AIDG) failed to submit what could be the strongest evidence against confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa after it was dissolved following its members involvement in the Jee Ick Joo slay case.

According to Mariz Umali's report on "24 Oras", the defunct anti-narcotics unit was no longer able to turn over Espinosa's extrajudicial confession to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group that filed the drug complaints.

"Mula doon sa Al Nadah Jail umiiyak na talaga siya. Talagang nagsisisi siya. Kaya nga gusto niyang sabihin 'yung lahat," PNP-Drug Enforcement Group (PNP-DEG) head Chief Superintendent Albert Ferro said.

"Yung involved 'yung kung sino-sino, binanggit niya 'yun. Kaya siya ganon. Alam naman niya na may kasalanan siya," he added.

The PNP-AIDG obtained the confession from Espinosa as early as November 2016 following his arrest by authorities in Abu Dhabi, where he was arrested also on drug charges.

The confession was also the same statement that Espinosa read before a Senate inquiry following his arrest.

The PNP-AIDG, however, was dissolved in January 2017 after its members were involved in the alleged kidnapping and killing of South Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo inside Camp Crame.

PNP-AIDG personnel were reportedly reassigned to other PNP units and they failed to submit the evidence to the CIDG.

State prosecutors have dismissed the drug complaints the CIDG filed against Espinosa and his co-respondents Peter Lim, Peter Co, and other personalities due to supposedly weak evidence.

Justice chief Vitaliano Aguirre II has created another panel of prosecutors to review the resolution as President Rodrigo Duterte was dismayed over the dismissed drug raps.

The resolution was also questioned by many lawmakers.

"The dismissal of the panel is now vacated and the case is remanded back to the new prosecutors I have appointed and the parties are free and required to submit their evidence to support their position," Aguirre said. —Anna Felicia Bajo/NB, GMA News