Confessed drug lord wants to be mayor, fight drugs

CAMPAIGN TRAIL Rolan “Kerwin” Espinosa starts his campaign to become the next mayor of Albuera, Leyte, where his late father, Rolando Sr., also served as mayor. —ROEL T.AMAZON/CONTRIBUTOR

ALBUERA, LEYTE, Philippines — Rolan “Kerwin” Espinosa, once identified by the police as the biggest drug lord in Eastern Visayas, is running for mayor here on a platform of ridding his hometown of illegal drugs.

But instead of taking an ironfisted approach, Espinosa said he was more for rehabilitating drug users while jailing the pushers.

Kerwin, 47, who is running under his local party, Bando Espinosa-Pundok Kausaban, said the death of his father, former Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr., in an alleged shootout while in jail in 2016 made him turn over a new leaf and seek the town’s highest post to solve the problem of illegal drugs.

READ: Kerwin Espinosa willing to quit mayoral race to get justice for slain dad

He acknowledged that everybody knew about his past involvement in narcotics.

“Because of my wrong decisions and involvement in illegal drugs, my father died,” said Kerwin in a statement sent to the Inquirer on Monday.

“I do not want others to experience what I went through. I have seen the harmful effects of drugs on people. It is not good.”

Back then, Albuera, where the Espinosas wielded power and influence, became the “capital” of illegal drugs in Eastern Visayas. This was the time when Rodrigo Duterte had just assumed the presidency and started his brutal war on drugs nationwide.

On orders from then Philippine National Police chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, police teams raided the Espinosa family compound in Barangay Binulho here in August 2016. Then Mayor Espinosa was arrested while six of his men were killed in the operation.

Kerwin fled the country but was eventually arrested in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Oct. 17, 2016. He was deported a month later.

Rolando Sr. was detained on drug charges at the subprovincial jail in Baybay City, Leyte, where he was later killed in a supposed shootout with authorities on Nov. 5, 2016.

Kerwin was among the jailed drug lords who linked then-Sen. Leila de Lima to the illegal drug trade. He later recanted, saying he was only forced to testify against her.

The drug cases filed against him were eventually dismissed by regional trial courts (RTC) in Makati, Manila, and Baybay City for insufficiency of evidence.

Kerwin is still facing a money laundering case before a Pasay City court and two cases—for illegal drugs and firearms—that the Court of Appeals ordered reopened before a Manila RTC.

Reclaiming pa’s seat

In the May elections, Kerwin is facing reelectionist Mayor Sixto de la Victoria and Leyte Board Member Vincent Rama.

Running for vice mayor with Kerwin is his younger sister, Mariel. —with a report from Inquirer Research