DOJ indicts Kerwin Espinosa, several others over illegal drug trade in Eastern Visayas

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has indicted self-confessed drug distributor Kerwin Espinosa and several others over the illegal drug trade in Eastern Visayas.

Aside from Espinosa, the following individuals will also stand trial for conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading:

• Marcelo Adorco
• Jose Antipuesto
• Jose Jernie Estrera
• Galo Stephen Bobares
• Ferdinand Rondina
• Brian Anthony Zaldivar
• Nickjune Canin
• Virbeca Diano
• Alfred Cres Batistis
• Josela Dumaguit

The DOJ panel of prosecutors, however, dismissed the complaint filed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) against 15 individuals, including several police officers, for lack of probable cause.

“A reading of the affidavits of respondents Kerwin, Adorco, Antipuesto, Bobares, Rondina, Zaldivar, Diano, Estrera, Canin, Batistis, and Dumaguit, shows that the same contain statements wherein the affiants described their respective participation in the illegal drug trade of respondent Kerwin which partake in the nature of extrajudicial confessions, i.e. out of court confessions,” the DOJ said in a resolution dated July 23.

“Clearly, due to the complexities of transactions alleged in the instant case wherein respondent Kerwin would direct his couriers to make deliveries to pushers, users or suppliers, and likewise make payment, whether through text messages or phone calls, or through a second or third middleman, it is sufficient that the communications among and between the respondents are established to prove the illegal drug trade,” it added.

Kerwin is the son of the late former Albuera, Leyte mayor Rolando Espinosa, whom President Rodrigo Duterte early in his term tagged in the illegal drug trade. The elder Espinosa died during a bloody police search operation at a jail facility in Baybay City, Leyte in November 2016.

The younger Espinosa faces charges in different courts, including drug trade conspiracy with businessman Peter Lim, who remains at large.—AOL, GMA News