Leyte court allows Kerwin Espinosa to post bail

TACLOBAN , Philippines — Self-confessed drug trafficker Kerwin Espinosa has been allowed to post bail along with four others by a local court in Baybay, Leyte in connection with the drug charges filed against them.

In an order issued on Tuesday, Judge Carlos Arguelles of the Regional Trial Court Branch 14 granted bail of P700,000 each to Espinosa and his co-respondents Marcelo Adorco, Jose Antipuesto, Alfred Cres Batistis and Brian Anthony Zaldivar.

Espinosa is currently detained at a jail facility in Taguig, while the four others are at the Ormoc City Jail.

Two other respondents in the case have been convicted and are now serving time at the New Bilibid Prison.

Police have yet to arrest two more suspects.

Kerwin and one of the accused were arrested in 2016.

Espinosa’s lawyer earlier filed a petition for bail after the prosecution presented the third witness.

The petition was adopted by another accused, Arguelles told The STAR.

Arguelles cited the failure of the prosecution to prove the guilt of the accused.

“Sifting and scouring through the pieces of evidence submitted by the prosecution, this court found no corroboration. There were no eyewitnesses in the commission of the crime that could positively identify Espinosa and his co-accused of having committed the crime charged,” the order said.

Arguelles said the testimonies of the witnesses showed they have no personal knowledge of the crime and only based their statements on the extrajudicial confession made by Espinosa during a Senate inquiry and to the National Bureau of Investigation.

In August 2021, the Department of Justice indicted Espinosa and his co-accused for involvement in illegal drug trade in Eastern Visayas.

In 2022, Espinosa recanted his allegations against former senator Leila de Lima, saying he was “coerced, pressured, intimidated and threatened” by the police to implicate De Lima in the illegal drug trade.

One of the drug charges against Espinosa was dismissed in December 2021.

Early this month, a Makati City court also acquitted Espinosa and Adorco in another drug case after the prosecution failed to provide sufficient evidence.