Was Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. of Albuera, Leyte in Cebu Saturday?
A source on Friday said the mayor wanted to come to Cebu to seek medical help, after he was told by Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa to leave the PNP’s custody if the mayor’s son, suspected big-time drug lord Rolando Jr. or Kerwin, would not give himself up by Friday.
But the mayor was so scared he would be killed after leaving the White House, the PNP chief’s official residence in Camp Crame, that he asked members of the media, including one from Cebu Daily News, to meet him at the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) to foil possible assassins.
The mayor was supposed to arrive in Cebu at dawn on Saturday but it was not until around 1:08 p.m. that he was recorded to have boarded a Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight from Manila for MCIA.
Espinosa left the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday. In its official statement, the PNP said Espinosa left the White House for a PAL flight to Leyte. But a source said the mayor arrived in Cebu past 1 p.m. and immediately took a boat ride to Ormoc.
Based on the flight radar application of the airport, the mayor and a Mariel Espinosa boarded the PAL flight but reporters waiting at the airport’s arrivals terminal saw only his brother Ramon, his wife Emma, and two teenage kids emerge from the arrivals area. Ramon, who partly hid his face with a jacket, and his companions were escorted by members of the Aviation Security Unit-Central Visayas (Avseu-7) to a taxicab.
But Supt. Ritchie Posadas, Avseu-7 director, said it was the mayor who arrived and they provided him “security coverage” during his arrival via PAL flight PR 1853 from Manila.
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7) agents, who arrived at the MCIA after the Espinosas had left, searched the arrival area but didn’t find the mayor. When they learned that the Espinosas had left, they hurriedly left on board a vehicle.
Last Aug. 2, Mayor Espinosa surrendered to Dela Rosa, beating a 24-hour deadline set by President Rodrigo Duterte for him and his son Kerwin to surrender or be shoot on sight. The mayor denied protecting his son and tearfully pleaded for Kerwin, who is at large, to surrender.