Senators disappointed over homicide charges vs cops in Espinosa slay

Senate leaders expressed yesterday their disappointment at the downgrading by the Department of Justice (DOJ) from murder to homicide of the criminal charges filed against Philippine National Police (PNP) Police Supt. Marvin Marcos and other Leyte policemen on the killing of a Leyte mayor in his jail cell.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin M, Drilon, a former DOJ secretary and a former Senate President, said he was “very disappointed” by this development as the incident was the subject of a series of public hearings by the Senate public order and dangerous drugs committee chaired by Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson.

Sen. Francis Pangilinan, president of the opposition Liberal Party (LP) and a member of the Senate minority bloc, said the DOJ’s 180degree turn around should be appealed because the crime of murder was very clear: Former Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa was killed inside his Leyte sub-provincial jail cell last year.

The original DOJ’s finding of the crime of murder was the same conclusion reached by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBJ) and the Senate committee itself, he said.

Because of the downgrading of the criminal complaint, Marcos and the other Leyte policemen are now free after more than two months of detention.

The Lacson committee report stated that the killing of Mayor Espinosa was premeditated.

“The committee report was unanimously adopted by the Senate and I would like to think that says a lot,” he said in a text message to Senate reporters.

“I guess we spoke too soon in commending the DOJ when it recommended the filing of information indicting Superintendent Marcos et.al. for double murder in spite of the loud and repeated pronouncements of the President to the contrary,’’ he said.

“It is but fitting that the same Senate denounce the same DOJ which has now turned around and reneged on its mandate to serve justice in a way that the blindfolded lady holding the scale would have wanted it,’’ he added.