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Supreme Court orders investigation of mayor’s death in town jail
The Supreme Court has ordered an investigation on how police criminal investigators served a search warrant on Saturday morning in the jail of a Leyte town mayor which resulted in his death and of an inmate.
"The Supreme Court has ordered an investigation into the circumstances relative to the purported issuance of the search warrant directed to the CIDG that led to the death in custody of Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa," SC spokesman Theodore Te said in a briefing.
Te said the High Tribunal will prepare guidelines for the probe which he said was initiated by the justices in the en banc session.
Several questions were raised about the police criminal investigation division if the warrant, which was carried out at 4 a.m.
A prisoner who was interviewed by a TV network claimed that Espinosa did not put up a fight when the policemen came with the search warrant. “He has no gun. We know because the search is very strict,” the inmate told CNN Philippines.
The search warrant on Espinosa for alleged possession of firearms was reportedly issued by a Samar court and served in the Baybay City sub-provincial jail in Leyte .
The criminal investigation team had another search warrant for an inmate in the jail, Raul Yap, for illegal drugs possession.
Espinosa allegedly executed an affidavit naming the government officials who benefited from protecting the drug trade. DMS, Emmanuel Tupas
