THE Department of Justice (DOJ) has kicked out self-confessed drug lord Rolan ‘Kerwin’ Espinosa from its Witness Protection Program due to numerous violations, the latest of which was his bungled attempt to escape from his holding facility at the National Bureau of Investigation.
Theodore Villanueva, program director of the WPP, said the NBI’s request to “terminate” Espinosa’s WPP coverage was approved on January 31, 2022.
“In reply to your letter dated 17 January 2022, recommending the termination of Mr. Rolan ‘Kerwin’ Espinosa to the coverage of the Witness Protection Program, please find the attached notice of termination dated 31 January 2022,“ stated Villanueva’s February 4 letter to lawyer Eleanor Rachel Angeles, OIC Director for Administrative Services of the NBI.
“As regards to your request to transfer Mr. Espinosa to another detention facility, we believe that the matter is beyond the jurisdiction and authority of this office,” Villanueva added.
Espinosa’s WPP coverage is in connection with his testimony that former DOJ secretary and now Sen. Leila De Lima served as one of his protectors and allegedly received P8-million in drug money from him during her term at the department.
The DOJ said Espinosa’s violations included the “harassment of other inmates, smuggling activities, drinking liquor, extorting money from other inmates in exchange that the latter will not be committed to another detention facility, violation of the curfew hours, roaming around the cells of other inmates and communicating with other inmates on cases involving violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.”
The DOJ likewise said he was caught in possession of “prohibited items such as mobile phones and bladed weapons.”
The last straw was the NBI’s discovery last month of a supposed plan hatched by Espinosa and two other inmates to escape from the detention facility.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra has said that Espinosa should be moved to a more secure detention facility considering the numerous cases he is facing.
The DOJ said the termination of Espinosa’s WPP coverage also “carries the accessory coverage of your wife and dependents.”
Espinosa and his father, Rolando Espinosa Sr., former mayor of Albuera town in Leyte, were hunted by authorities after President Duterte launched his bloody crackdown against the illegal drugs trade in 2016.
The elder Espinosa was jailed in Leyte but was killed inside his detention cell later that year by policemen out to serve a warrant for his arrest for allegedly keeping a firearm in his cell.
Meanwhile, a Makati court acquitted the younger Espinosa of one of the drug charges filed against him in December last year.
However, he remained at the NBI detention facility over other pending non-bailable drug charges.
