Fear grips 'narco' mayor's town in Leyte

TACLOBAN CITY, Aug. 8 (PNA) -- Few weeks ago, the coastal town of Albuera, Leyte could boast of being a community where people could walk anywhere without fear of danger.

However, when President Rodrigo Duterte named Mayor Rolando Espinosa’s family as one of the country’s drug lords, those worry-free days disappeared.

According to former Albuera Vice Mayor Norman Mesina, their town was never the same after it was put into the limelight with the alleged involvement of their mayor and son, Kerwin in the drug trade.

Mesina said that although they could not consider their place as ghost town, it was like never before.

"In the past, people were not afraid to walk down the streets even up to wee hours, however, recently with what happened, people are afraid to go out of their houses as early as 8 p.m.," Mesina told PNA.

“Albuera got a bad image considering that no less than our mayor is being linked to illegal drugs,” she added.

The former official joined Albuera town police chief Inspector Jovie Espenido’s call for the mayor to to resign to prevent violence.

He started to notice the changes in their town after the May 9, 2016 elections where Espinosa won by a wide margin of votes.

Mesina served as a the town’s mayor for six weeks before July 1, 2016 when then Mayor Ramon de la Cerna Jr. resigned his post after losing to Espinosa. De la Cerna and Mesina both lost to Espinosa in the mayoralty race.

On Aug. 2, Espinosa surrendered to Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Ronald dela Rosa after Malacañang demanded for the mayor and his son’s surrender within 24 hours or face a “shoot-on-sight.”

With Kerwin’s failure to heed the government's surrender demand, the elder Espinosa left the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame on Saturday morning. The mayor reportedly headed off to Cebu. (PNA)
JMC/SQM/LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA/EGR