Kerwin Espinosa shot at campaign event – PNP

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

MANILA, Philippines — Kerwin Espinosa, a mayoral candidate whom police once tagged as the biggest drug lord in Eastern Visayas, was shot at a campaign event on Thursday.

According to a police report from the Philippine National Police (PNP), the incident took place at 4:30 p.m. on April 10 at a gymnasium in Barangay Tinag-an in Albuera, Leyte.

“[T]he victim was sitting on a monoblock chair waiting for his turn to speak, the unidentified male person hiding in the ceiling of the stage shot the victim from behind using [an] undetermined firearm,” the police report said.

READ: Confessed drug lord wants to be mayor, fight drugs

It added that Espinosa’s personal security brought him to the nearest hospital to be treated.

Police have set up roadblocks while Albuera municipal police have begun a hot pursuit operation, the PNP said.

Espinosa is running for Albuera mayor under the Bando Espinosa-Pundok Kausaban party.

He said he aimed to solve the illegal drug problem, after the death of his father, former Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr., in an alleged shootout in jail in 2016.