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Rolando Espinosa,
mayor of Albuera town in Leyte, turned himself in to the
national police chief in August after President Rodrigo Duterte
asked him and his son, Kerwin, to surrender over their
involvement in the drug trade.
Espinosa was later allowed to go home but on Oct. 5 was arrested
on charges of illegal possession of drugs. He is the second
local government executive on Duterte's so-called "narco-list"
killed during police operations.
The shootout took place after Espinosa and inmate Raul Yap fired
at a team from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group
who was on a mission to serve a search warrant against the
detainees for firearms and illegal drugs, police said.
"As a matter of procedure, this incident will undergo
investigation to establish the facts and circumstances
surrounding the incident," Eastern Visayas Regional Police Chief
Superintendent Elmer Beltejar said.
Police said they recovered a .45 caliber pistol and a .38 Super
pistol from the cells of Yap and Espinosa. A small sachet
containing suspected methamphetamine and assorted drug
paraphernalia were also found inside Espinosa's cell, police
said.
The presidential palace described Espinosa's death as
"unfortunate" and said an investigation was ongoing.
Espinosa had publicly denied any part in the drug trade but said
his son was peddling "shabu" (methamphetamine), which he gets
from a jailed Chinese drug trader.
Kerwin, allegedly among the biggest illegal drug operators in
the Eastern Visayas region, was arrested by Abu Dhabi police
last month, according to Philippine National Police chief
Director General Ronald dela Rosa.
In October, Samsudin Dimaukom, a powerful mayor in the troubled
Duterte home province of Mindanao, was also killed along with
nine of his guards in a shootout, according to police.
More than 2,300 people have been killed in police operations or
by suspected vigilantes in connection with the anti-narcotics
campaign since Duterte took office on June 30.
Duterte said on Friday his war on drugs had cut back the supply
to "very low" levels and thanked China for supporting his
crackdown, but swore repeatedly at ally the United States for
criticizing it.
(Reporting by Enrico dela Cruz; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
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