SC orders probe on courts handling late Albuera Mayor Espinosa cases

MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court en banc recently asked the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) to conduct investigation on the Regional Trial Courts (RTCs) handling late Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr.’s cases.

“In order to verify the preliminary information received and to arrive at a complete determination of the facts and the circumstances surrounding the participation of two separate branches of the Regional Trial Court, the Court motu propio RESOLVED to DIRECT the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) to conduct an investigation,” the resolution read.

The resolution dated November 8 but only released last November 11, also stated that OCA should determine in its probe the necessity for and circumstances surrounding the issuance of a search warrant or search warrants directed against persons already in custody in a government detention facility, including the existence of any compelling reasons by the RTC Branch 30 in Basey, Samar court to entertain the application of the search warrant/s under Section 2, Rule 126 of the Revised Rules on Criminal Procedure.

The court does not only want to investigate the issuance of search warrants but also sought to review the reasons behind the failure to immediately resolve the motion of Espinosa for transfer out of his place to another detention. The OCA will look into the procedures taken by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group  (CIDG) as narrated in the return.

Among the judges being investigated are Judge Carlos Arguelles of the Baybay City RTC Branch 14 and Judge Tarcelo Sabarre Jr. of RTC Branch 30 in Basey, Samar. Arguelles handles the illegal drugs and possession of firearms raps against Espinosa while Sabarre issued the search warrants against Espinosa and another inmate, Raul Yap, legitimizing the police raid inside the jail.

Last November 5, Espinosa and Yap were shot dead due to their alleged resistance in the arrest after the CIDG carried out their police operation using the search warrant.

President Rodrigo Duterte previously tagged the late mayor as involved in illegal drugs.

Sabarre however justified the issuance of the search warrants, saying that it was mere compliance with the law.

He cited that he went to question the two witnesses presented by the CIDG during the two-hour hearing in the application for the search warrant.