OSMEÑA
CEBU City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said he was not surprised by the statements of suspected drug lord Kerwin Espinosa that he was supplying illegal drugs in some of the barangays in Cebu City.
In fact, the mayor said he believes some barangay officials in Cebu City are involved in the illegal drug trade.
“No, I’m not surprised. I already said, there are barangay officials involved. (But) I will not accept if there is any BO-PK (Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan) that’s involved in drugs or any kind of shenanigans or corruption,” he told reporters yesterday.
He admitted though that he was not able to watch yesterday’s Senate hearing where Espinosa made damning revelations about police and other personalities who were linked to the drugs trade he operated both in Cebu and in Leyte province in Eastern Visayas.
During the hearing, Espinosa admitted to supplying drugs in Cebu City barangays including Pasil, Ermita, Lorega San Miguel and Duljo-Fatima.
In a separate interview, Senior Supt. Joel Doria, director of the Cebu City Police Office, said they continue monitoring particular barangays in Cebu City that are known for the illegal drugs trade, particularly Duljo-Fatima, Lorega San Miguel, Ermita and Pasil.
“We are concentrating our operations on these areas,” he said.
Pasil Barangay Captain Julius Guioguio admitted they are still faced with a drug problem in his barangay, but it is no longer as prevalent, thanks to the intense anti-drug campaign of the police under the Duterte administration.
Cebu Daily News tried to get the comments of Barangay Captains Felicisimo Rupinta of Ermita, Elmer Abella of Duljo-Fatima and Fritz Herera of Lorega San Miguel, but calls and texts to their mobile phone numbers were not answered.
Osmeña said he is not familiar with Espinosa or his operation, as he only heard about the suspected drug lord when he became mayor this year. But from the information he has gathered, he said he learned that Espinosa used to be an underling of slain suspected drug lord Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz before he started his own drug operation.
Osmeña likewise pointed out that his own anti-drug campaign has led to the arrest or death of nine out of the ten most wanted personalities in Cebu City. These included Rowen “Yawa” Secretaria, who was killed in a Cebu police raid at his hideout on Banacon Island, off Getafe town of Bohol last May 28; and of Jaguar, who was killed in another Cebu police–led operation in Las Piñas City last July 17.
The policemen responsible for getting Jaguar and Yawa got cash rewards from the mayor.
But in his testimony in yesterday’s Senate hearing, Espinosa said the deaths of Jaguar and Yawa were allegedly part of the “cleansing” operation of policemen with links to the illegal drugs trade.
Sought for comment on this, the mayor immediately quashed allegations that could link him to Jaguar’s drug trade.
“No need to comment on that. I already challenged (former city mayor) Mike Rama to join me in a lie detector test if we ever asked or received money from Jaguar. He consistently refused. There is your answer,” Osmeña said in a text message.