By Mar Gabriel
Eagle News Service
Kerwin Espinosa’s confession he was a drug dealer before a Senate hearing in 2016 could not be submitted to the Department of Justice prosecution panel as evidence against him because he retracted the same during the preliminary investigation.
CIDG Director Roel Obusan said Espinosa denied the testimonies he made in his answer submitted to the first prosecution panel tasked to look into the drug charges filed against him, Peter Lim, Peter Co, Lovely Impal, Marcelo Adorco, Max Miro, Ruel Malindagan, Jun Pepito and other John Does.
According to Obusan, the CIDG wrote a letter to Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre informing him of the development in September 2017.
He has yet, however, to see a response to the letter, Obusan said.
Because it was unclear if Espinosa would be used as state witness against Senator Leila de Lima, the CIDG then instead submitted the testimony of Espinosa’s driver as evidence against those charged.
He said they would consider including Espinosa’s testimony in the supplemental evidence to be filed before the new panel, even as he insisted Adorco’s testimony already sufficed.
“We are (filing) the (motion for reconsideration now),” Obusan added.
He also denied the timing of the filing of the MR was questionable.
He said the CIDG only received a copy of the December 20, 2017 resolution junking the charges against Espinosa and the others on Feb. 7, 2018.
The first prosecution panel junked the drug charges against Espinosa and the others, citing a “dearth of evidence,” and the alleged inconsistencies in the testimonies of Adorco.
The resolution, dated as early as December 2017, was signed by Assistant State Prosecutors Michael John Humarang and Aristotle Reyes.
OIC Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Rassendell Rex Gingoyon recommended approval of the resolution and Acting Prosecutor General Jorge Catalan approved it.
Aguirre has instructed the National Bureau of Investigation to look into the possible violations of the law of members of that first prosecution panel through Department Order No. 152.
He also designated Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Richard Fadullon as acting prosecutor general in the case.
Fadullon will lead a new panel of prosecutors that will look into the MR filed by the CIDG.
The new panel is composed of Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera, Assistant State Prosecutor Ana Noreen Devanadera and Prosecution Attorney Herbert Calvin Abugan.