Kerwin was arrested in the United Arab Emirates last month and will face drug trafficking charges. / AFP PHOTO / NOEL CELIS
(Eagle News) – The Senate started hearing the testimony Wednesday morning (November 23) of Eastern Visayas’s suspected big time drug lord Kerwin Espinosa, as he detailed how he started his illegal drugs business in 2004.
He said he first started small and then grew his business with the help of his “upline,” and later his alleged drug protectors.
Espinosa said he first started operations in Cebu, and was arrested in 2005.
He also spent time at the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa where he met other drug lords, including Peter Co, Tony Co , a certain Boss Hans, and a certain Durano, a former police officer.
He named his initial suppliers as a certain Lovely Impal, and a cetain Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz.
Kerwin said he had been giving an “SOP” –meaning drug money as protection guarantee — to police protectors in the region. In usual parlance, SOP means “Standard Operating Procedure.”
He named one of the biggest of the police protectors as a certain General Dolina, who was assigned as police director of region 8 in early 2015.
He said he gave the money to Victor Espina who was the one who delivered the money to General Dolina.
He gave P3 million, he said, before May 2015. He then gave an additional P2 million, and then another P1 million after a week.
“Para mapatunayan ko, humihingi ako bank statement sa bangko,” Espinosa said.
He said that the P3 million was supposedly Dolina’s advance for the P300,000 monthly that he was asking from him.
“Kulang daw pera niya na pambili ng Land Cruiser,” Espinosa said.
He said Victor Espina also asked for P1.75 million for the firearms Espinosa wanted to buy, and another P1.25 million as agent’s fee.
He also detailed the “SOP” payments to other police officers, including members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group region 8, specifically Supt. Marvin Marcos, Chief Insp. Leo Laraga, and Supt. Santi Noel Matira, who were part of the raiding team that eventually killed Kerwin’s father, Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa.