Self-confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa testifies before the House of Representatives’ quad committee on Friday, October 11, 2024. Espinosa says he was merely ordered by then PNP chief and now Senator Ronald dela Rosa to implicate former Senator Leila de Lima as supposedly part of the illegal drug trade. (Photo from the House of Representatives media bureau)

MANILA, Philippines — Self-confessed drug lord Rolan “Kerwin” Espinosa has claimed that former police chief and now Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa ordered him to implicate former Sen. Leila de Lima and Peter Lim in the illegal drug trade.

Espinosa said the directive came right after his father was killed in 2016.

He made the statement during his testimony before the House of Representatives’ quad committee on Friday.

Espinosa said it was dela Rosa who fetched him from the airport after his father, former Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr., was killed on November 5, 2016.

The younger Espinosa was in Malaysia when the slaying happened.

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According to Kerwin, he, dela Rosa — who was Philippine National Police (PNP) chief at that time — and other police officers entered a bullet-proof vehicle after he alighted from the airplane.

November 17, when I arrived at around 11:00 p.m. more or less, I was fetched by local police. The one who picked me up was General Bato. He put his arm over my shoulder as we went towards the vehicle, a white Land Cruiser which was bullet-proof,” Espinosa recalled.
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“When we rode the car, General Bato was in front. I was behind. I was seated between two police officers, and he told me ‘you admit involvement in the drug trade here in the Philippines,’ and that I should drag along Peter Lim and Leila de Lima so that they will be pinned down,” Espinosa recalled.

He said dela Rosa warned him about suffering the same fate as Espinosa Sr. if he would not follow the orders.

“If I do not follow the plan, they warned me that what happened to my father can also happen to me. One member of my family will also die. I was shaken at that time. I did not know what to do,” Espinosa said.

In April 2022, he recanted his allegations against de Lima — which became one of the bases for the drug-related cases filed against her.

According to Espinosa, his statements against de Lima were false and were merely the result of “pressure, coercion, intimidation and serious threats to his life and family members from the police who instructed him to implicate the senator into the illegal drug trade.”

“For this, undersigned apologizes to Senator De Lima,” he said.

This revelation led de Lima to ask other witnesses to follow Espinosa’s lead, so that the allegedly trumped-up charges against her can be dropped.

In June 2024, de Lima was acquitted in her last remaining drug-related case.

News reports in 2016 showed that dela Rosa vowed to secure Espinosa, saying that he failed to protect his father, Espinosa Sr.

Espinosa Sr. was killed in November 2016 in what the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) claimed was a shootout.

The former mayor was arrested in October 2016 over allegations of illegal possession of drugs and firearms.

He pleaded not to be taken to the Leyte sub-provincial jail in Baybay City, as he feared for his life there, but his plea was ignored.

Under the command of Supt. Marvin Marcos, a CIDG-Region 8 team conducted a pre-dawn operation to serve a search warrant on Espinosa Sr., whom they suspected to be keeping a gun and crystal meth or “shabu” inside his cell.

Espinosa Sr. and another inmate, Raul Yap, were killed in the raid.