Leyte court allows Kerwin Espinosa, 4 others to post bail

A Leyte regional trial court (RTC) has granted the petition of self-confessed drug lord Rolan "Kerwin" Espinosa, along with four other co-accused, to post bail in connection with an illegal drug trade case.

In an order dated June 13, 2023, Baybay City RTC Branch 14 Presiding Judge Carlos Arguelles allowed the petition for bail of Espinosa, Brian Anthony Zaldivar, Alfred Cres Batistis, Jose Antipuesto, and Marcelo Adorco, amounting to P700,000 each for their respective provisional liberty.

This was due to the “failure of the prosecution to prove that evidence of guilt against them is strong.”

The court said the extrajudicial confession of the accused cannot be considered as strong evidence of guilt against them “in the absence of corpus delicti.”

“Sifting and scouring through the tangled web of the prosecution evidence, this Court does not find any corroboration. There were no eyewitnesses in the commission of the crime that would positively identify Espinosa and his co-accused of having committed the crime charged,” it added.

In August 2021, the Department of Justice indicted Espinosa, Zaldivar, Batistis, Antipuesto, and Adorco, along with several other individuals, over the illegal drug trade in Eastern Visayas.

One of the drug charges against Espinosa was dismissed later in December 2021.

Earlier this month, a Makati City court also acquitted Espinosa and Adorco of a drug trade charge after the prosecution failed to provide sufficient evidence.

In 2022, Espinosa also recanted his allegations against former Senator Leila de Lima, saying he was "coerced, pressured, intimidated, and seriously threatened" by the police to implicate the former legislator. —VAL/RSJ, GMA Integrated News