During the Senate hearing on the killing of Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa, it was revealed that Supt. Marvin Marcos was relieved and reinstated on the same day.
PNP chief Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa said he ordered administrative relief for Marcos in October, around the same time confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa was arrested in Abu Dhabi.
When Senator Bam Aquino asked dela Rosa when Marcos was reinstated, he affirmed that it was on the same day.
Asked who made the order, dela Rosa said it was President Rodrigo Duterte who made that call, although this is not a usual request from a chief executive.
“Hindi po ito pangkaraniwan. To be frank, nagtataka ako who am I to question the wisdom of the President? Meron siyang rason which he explained later,” dela Rosa said.
Duterte later said that he ordered Marcos’ reinstatement to keep an eye on him after he was accused of being involved in the illegal drug trade.
Dela Rosa also said that Mayor Espinosa would still be alive if Marcos was not reinstated. The NBI later said their investigation led them to conclude that Espinosa’s killing was a rubout, not shootout.
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As to who could have advised Duterte to reinstate Marcos into his post, Inquirer came up with a name – Supt. Edilberto Leonardo. According to their sources from the House of Representatives and the Senate, Leonardo was the person who asked Duterte to intervene in Marcos’ case. Leonardo is the head of CIDG Region 11 (Davo Region) based in Davao City.
The same Inquirer sources said that Leonardo was Duterte’s most trusted Davao crony and that he was one of the few people who have a direct line of communication with the President.
As of Wednesday, the Inquirer has been unable to reach Leonardo for comment.
The sources also said Espinosa’s killing was the corrupt cops’ way of getting rid of people who could single them out for their links to the illegal drug trade. On top of that, their operations also allow them to collect the P2 million bounty promised for the head of every high-profile drug suspects from Duterte.
Leonardo’s name was also mentioned during the December 5 Senate hearing conducted by the committee on public order and dangerous drugs and the committee on justice and human rights.
Senator Antonio Trillanes IV questioned Marcos on his links with Leonardo. Marcos said that he and Leonardo go way back to the Philippine National Police Academy as classmates, although they did not graduate together in 1996 because of Marcos’ pending status.
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Trillanes noted how Leonardo served as the operation’s “point person.”
But Espinosa’s case is almost similar to that of Edgar Allen Alvarez, who was moved to the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa after he was busted for living a luxurious life in the national penitentiary.
Just like Espinosa, someone from the raiding team shot Alvarez multiple times after he allegedly threw a grenade at them, which did not explode.
With NBI’s findings, all the cops in the raiding team were charged.
Trillanes, however, believed that dela Rosa is caught unaware of the links between Duterte and Leonardo.
“I feel for General Dela Rosa because there are [senior superintendents] here [who] are operating without the knowledge or without the knowledge of the PNP leadership,” Trillanes said during the Senate hearing.
Sources: (newsinfo.inquirer.net, gmanetwork.com)
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