Raiding team to face Senate probe on Mayor Espinosa slay case

TACLOBAN CITY, Nov. 9 (PNA) -- The team that served the search warrant at the Baybay City sub-provincial jail leading to the death of Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa, Sr. and another inmate early Saturday will appear in a Senate inquiry on Thursday.

The team is composed of 13 operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and six maritime police who flew to Manila early Wednesday morning in preparation for the inquiry.

CIDG Eastern Visayas chief Supt. Marvin Marcos clarified there was no relief order issued by their main office to any CIDG official in the region.

“There’s no relieve order and no one were restricted. The order for us is to stay in the office and no field assignments,” Marcos explained.

The CIDG regional chief reaffirmed that it was a legitimate operation and there was no irregularity on it. “We did not plant any evidence nor took away the hard drive of the CCTV footage.”

Marcos admitted that his men felt bad about hearing news coming out. But this doesn’t mean that they are demoralized of what is going on, because they all believe that the Philippine National Police (PNP) is behind them.

“We just want the truth to come out as we believe that the police investigating body are taking action according to the law,” he added.

The three-man team of PNP-CIDG central office have started the investigation Monday morning.

The team was tasked to investigate the killing of the mayor and another inmate, Raul Yap, inside the cell of Baybay City sub provincial jail.

The CIDG is a separate unit and it is PNP’s primary investigation arm.

Meanwhile, investigation by the regional internal affairs service of PNP office here is now ongoing.

PNP regional spokesperson Chief Insp. Ma. Bella Rentuaya said that amidst many questions about the shooting incident, they are doing their best to answer all questions based on gathered facts.

“We can’t speculate about investigations that are still in progress, but what we can offer are information based on the initial result of the investigation we have and we assure the public and the Espinosa family that a fair investigation will be conducted and enforce the full force of the law against erring policemen,” Rentuaya said.

The recent fatal shooting of Espinosa has sparked public sympathy in the provincial capital.

Elsa (not her real name) a market vendor in the city is nervous of what is happening now, but I want justice to be served. “What they did to Mayor Espinosa isn’t just.”

“Life is more important than the money. I want the CIDG police to be investigated more deeply,” she added. (PNA)
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