PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte said Friday that the authorities are not to blame on the killing of Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. because it was him who ordered to bolster campaign against narcotics sale.
Duterte said he believes the version of the police, even though many, including Senators, think that the killing of Espinosa inside his detention cell was premeditated.
“Let me state my case as the chief executive branch: I believe in the version of the police,” Duterte told reporters in Davao City on early Friday after arriving from his official visit to Malaysia.
In Thursday's Senate probe into the death of Espinosa, Senator Panfilo Lacson noted several loopholes to the police's version of the incident: from the securing of a search warrant by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Regional 8 despite Espinosa already detained, down to the procedures taken in the actual operation at the provincial jail in Baybay City, Leyte.
"There's one word to describe this (Espinosa’s death): premeditated," Senator Panfilo Lacson, chairman of Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs that conducted the investigation.
The president downplayed the alleged planned killing and challenged the Senate to file a case, if it has evidence that can implicate the authorities.
“If they have evidence to prove otherwise, then, a case must be filed against the police,” Duterte said.
Duterte said the police should not worry because he would not allow any case that will be filed against them to prosper.
He reiterated that he is willing to go to prison because he assumes “full and legal” responsibility.
“The police have nothing to fear. I am supporting them. And if they say, ‘Why is Duterte supporting the police?’ It’s natural because I ordered them. The fight against drugs is mine. It’s not somebody else’s order,” the President said.
“In the meantime, if you run out for the people to blame, look at me because I was the one who ordered the war against drugs,” he added.
Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella, however, clarified that Duterte is merely assuming that the authorities are "along the lines of regularity" and stressed that the government would go by the findings of the Senate investigation.
"The investigation continues and the whole process will unfold. He is saying he will stand by what the police have said. It is simply an assumption of regularity. He assumes what the police have said is along the lines of regularity," Abella told reporters in a press conference.
Meanwhile, Duterte said that despite the killing of Espinosa, his son, suspected drug lord Kerwin Espinosa, will safely return to the Philippines.
The younger Espinosa was arrested in Abu Dhabi last month and is still in the custody of the authorities in the United Arab Emirates.
"I guarantee you, he will be brought back," the President said. "There are rules to be followed but he will be back to face the charges." (Sunnex)
