Mayor Espinosa pleads for bail and jail transfer
The Regional Trial Court in Baybay City has yet to decide on the motions filed by the lawyer of Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr., who is currently detained on illegal drugs and firearms charges.
Espinosa was arraigned yesterday by RTC branch 14 Judge Carlos Arguelles who ordered him detained at the Leyte Sub-Provincial Jail in Baybay City, following his arrest last October 5.
Citing security reasons, the mayor asked the court for him to be transferred from the Leyte Sub-Provincial Jail to the Albuera Police Station, where he was earlier put in custody before his arrest.
An ocular inspection will be conducted on October 26 at the Baybay City Subjail to determine the condition of the mayor in that facility.
The court also set the other motions filed by Espinosa’s lawyers, including his bail plea and motion to quash the search warrant used by authorities to raid his home last August, on the same date.
Likewise, the court gave both parties—the prosecution and Espinosa’s lawyer—time to present evidence and witnesses on their motions.
Espinosa’s lawyer was also barred by the court from talking to the media about the case.
Espinosa was linked by President Rodrigo Duterte to the illegal drug trade. Duterte even asked Espinosa and his son Kerwin to surrender “on the grounds of drugtrafficking and coddling.”
After months in hiding, the younger Espinosa was finally apprehended in Abu Dhabi last Monday.
President Duterte in August accused Kerwin of running a narcotics syndicate in the Visayas, and issued a shoot-to-kill order against the suspected drug lord after the latter ignored calls to surrender.