Confessed drug lord shot, wounded on campaign trail
TACLOBAN CITY—Confessed drug lord Rolan “Kerwin” Espinosa, who is running for mayor in his hometown in Albuera, Leyte, was shot and wounded during a campaign sortie on Wednesday afternoon.
A stray bullet fired by a still unidentified male assailant hit a girl, said a spot report by the Albuera police, a copy of which was obtained by the Inquirer.
Police Brig. Gen. Jean Fajardo, the Philippine National Police spokesperson, said in Manila that the unidentified man who was hiding in the ceiling of the stage shot Espinosa from behind.
Mariel Espinosa Marinay, who is running for vice mayor, was also “injured,” Fajardo said, but did not specify the kind of injury or whether she was also hit by a bullet. She identified the girl as Aira Matinelle Colasito, Fajardo said.
Espinosa was rushed to a private hospital in Ormoc City, Leyte, about 28 km away from Albuera. The police report didn’t indicate where Espinosa and the girl were hit.
In pictures on her Facebook page, Marinay, Espinosa’s younger sister, showed what appeared to be small splinter wounds behind her left ear, face and neck.
“I still get the jitters whenever I recall what happened earlier. I thought it was going to be our end. We were shot indiscriminately, mercilessly and fearlessly. They wanted to silence us,” she said in Filipino, “But we will not stop.”
She did not say who she was referring to.
“We are not perfect, and our sole intention is to serve faithfully. And even if we were almost killed, that would not be reason for us to stop,” she said.
She appealed for prayers for her “kuya” who was “under observation.”
First in region
It was the first reported election-related violence in Eastern Visayas, which is composed of Leyte, Southern Leyte, Samar, Eastern Samar, Northern Samar and Biliran, since the start of the campaign period on March 28.
Espinosa, 47, is running for the position once held by his father, the late Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr., under his local party Bando Espinosa-Pundok Kausaban.
Once touted as the biggest drug lord in Eastern Visayas, Espinosa is running under a platform of ridding Albuera of illegal drugs. Espinosa had explained that he didn’t want other people to experience the ill effects of illegal drugs.
He is running against reelectionist Mayor Sixto de la Victoria and Leyte Board Member Vincent Rama.
Shot on stage
According to the police report, Espinosa was attending a rally inside a covered court in Barangay Tinag-an, Albuera, around 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, along with his slate.
He was sitting on a chair waiting for his turn to speak when an unidentified man suddenly appeared and opened fire, hitting him and the girl.
As the gunman escaped, Espinosa and the girl were rushed by the candidate’s close-in security detail to the hospital in Ormoc on his vehicle.
Local police, in coordination with the Special Weapons and Tactics team launched a pursuit operation and also set up checkpoints.
During a press briefing he called on March 30, Espinosa was asked if he had security concerns, considering that his father, Rolando Sr., was killed in an alleged shootout while in jail in 2016.
He said he did not fear for his life anymore.
“I entered politics without any fear because I wanted to continue the good plans we had that were abruptly stopped,” he added.
Drug ‘capital’
When his father was mayor, Albuera was considered the “capital” of illegal drugs in Eastern Visayas. This was the time when Rodrigo Duterte took office as President in 2016 and started his brutal war on drugs nationwide.
On orders of then PNP chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, police teams raided the Espinosa family compound in Barangay Binulho in Tacloban in August 2016. Then Mayor Espinosa was arrested while six of his men were killed in the operation.
Espinosa fled the country but was eventually arrested in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Oct. 17, 2016. He was deported a month later.
Rolando Sr. was detained on drug charges at the subprovincial jail in Baybay City, Leyte, where he was killed on Nov. 5, 2016, in a supposed shootout with members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.
De Lima case witness
Espinosa was among the jailed drug lords who linked then Sen. Leila de Lima to the illegal drug trade. He later recanted, saying he was only forced to testify against her.
The drug cases filed against him were eventually dismissed by regional trial courts (RTC) in Makati, Manila, and Baybay City for insufficient evidence.
Espinosa is still facing a money laundering case before a Pasay City court and illegal drugs and firearms cases that the Court of Appeals ordered reopened before a Manila RTC.
In Manila, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chair George Erwin Garcia denounced the attack.
“Any act of violence should be condemned by anyone. The perpetrators must be unmasked and brought to justice immediately. Election is never about killing but is instead the giving of life to our democracy,” he said. Ballots not bullets are the answer to our problems.” —WITH REPORTS FROM NESTOR COLLAES AND JEROME ANING
