Self-confessed drug dealer Roland "Kerwin" Espinosa (in cuffs and ballistic vest) (File photo)
MANILA – Self-confessed drug dealer Roland "Kerwin" Espinosa is no longer a state witness after he was dropped from the Witness Protection Program (WPP) by the Department of Justice (DOJ).
WPP director and Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Theodore Villanueva conveyed the decision in a letter dated February 7 to lawyer Eleanor Rachel Angeles, OIC director of the National Bureau Investigation (NBI) Administrative Service.
Angeles, in a letter to Villanueva on January 17, recommended Espinosa's exclusion from the WPP after he and two other inmates tried to escape from the NBI's holding facility last month.
Aside from the escape attempt, other lapses committed by Espinosa while under the NBI's protective custody which led to the termination of his WPP coverage include "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; violating curfew hours and roaming around cells of other inmates despite warnings; communicating with other inmates on drug cases and possessing prohibited items such as mobile phones and bladed weapons".
The termination of the coverage also includes Espinosa's wife and dependents.
The NBI earlier sought the transfer of Espinosa to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) facility in Bicutan, Taguig City.
NBI officer in charge-director Eric Distor said the BJMP has ample facilities to hold a high-profile prisoner like Espinosa, whose attempt to escape on January 13 was discovered by their personnel.
Espinosa and two other detainees nearly escaped through the hole of a ceiling exhaust fan, if not for the timely action of members of the NBI Security Management Section.
There are currently 79 detainees at the NBI detention center.
On Dec. 17, 2021, Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 64 Judge Gina Bibat-Palamos dismissed the illegal drug charges against Espinosa and co-accused Wu Tuan Yuan (alias Peter Co), Marcelo Adorco, and Lovely Impal "for failure of the prosecution to adduce evidence to overturn the presumption of innocence enjoyed by the herein accused."
They have pending criminal charges in other trial courts in the country. (PNA)
