‘Cop in mayor’s slay is death squad member’

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV claimed yesterday that police Supt. Marvin Marcos, who was charged for the death of Albuera, Leyte mayor Rolando Espinosa, is part of what he calls the Philippine Death Squad (PDS) supposedly organized by President Duterte to execute suspected drug offenders.

Trillanes said Marcos is a member of the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) Class of 1996 that comprises the core of the alleged PDS.

The senator also claimed that PDS is led by a police officer known only as Superintendent Leonardo, who is reportedly a kumpadre of the President’s son, Davao City vice Mayor Paolo Duterte.

Trillanes was referring to Supt. Edilberto Leonardo, who was named in a special report on state-sponsored extrajudicial killings in the Philippines by Reuters news agency last April as the alleged leader of the PDS.

Trillanes said rewards are given for each drug suspect killed by the PDS.

“Just like the group of retired police officer Arthur Lascañas in Davao, they have an organization within the organization. They are the ones doing the dirty jobs and the leadership of the PNP is forced to look the other way,” he said.

Marcos, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Region 8, and 17 other policemen men were charged for the killing of Espinosa in his jail cell in Leyte.

Trillanes said PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa initially relieved Marcos and his men but they were soon after reinstated by the President himself.

 According to Trillanes, members of the PDS demanded the release of Marcos and the other policemen, otherwise they would come out to reveal the involvement of Duterte in the killings.

 Trillanes believes this could be the reason why the charges against Marcos and his men were downgraded by the Department of Justice from murder to homicide.

Marcos and the 17 policemen involved in the killing of Espinosa are out on bail.

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III has called for the reopening of the investigation on the killing of Espinosa.

The Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs chaired by Sen. Panfilo Lacson conducted the probe and concluded that the killing of Espinosa was premeditated.

Several senators, led by the minority bloc, issued a resolution expressing their concern over the downgrading of the charges against the policemen.

In a text message to reporters yesterday, Lacson expressed his apprehension in reopening the investigation, considering that the previous committee report that he prepared had been approved in the plenary.

Since the issue is the move of the state prosecutors to downgrade the charges, Lacson said the appropriate panel to handle the investigation would be the justice committee headed by Sen. Richard Gordon.

Palace: Trillanes fantasizing

Malacañang believes that Trillanes was fantasizing when he claimed that Duterte organized the DS.  

“I think the interview with ‘HARDtalk’ just summarized everything that he is. You know, he seems to be really given to his huge fantasies,” presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella told reporters.

Abella was referring to the BBC program that interviewed the opposition senator on Wednesday. 

Asked to react to Trillanes’ claim that Duterte was behind the move of the justice department to downgrade the cases of policemen tagged in the killing of Espinosa, Abella said the senator “seemed to be out of tune and not reflective of the times.”

PNP mum

The PNP is mum on Trillanes’ allegations that several members of PNPA Class 1996 were involved in extrajudicial killings.

Dela Rosa did not reply when asked to comment on the accusations made by Trillanes that policemen who are part of the PDS are getting their orders from the President.  – With Alexis Romero, Emmanuel Tupas