Goma
sues
Jovie,
2 others
P15
Gomez was tagged by Larraga as one of the
Leyte political personalities linked to Espinosa.
But when queried, Larraga pointed at Espenido
as the source of the information. He said he heard
Albuera Police Chief Jovie Espenido mention Gomez’s name during a case conference as among the
politicians involved in the drug trade in the region.
Last week, Gomez and Gomez cropped up in the
his wife, Leyte Rep. Lucy ‘pink book’ as well as in the
Torres Gomez, trooped to the affidavit of one of the witNational Police Commission nesses. According to said witheadquarters to file an ad- ness, Gomez received P4 milministrative case for gross lion payola. Also mentioned
misconduct, abuse of author- was Leyte Board member
ity, dishonesty and conduct Matt Torres, the brother of
unbecoming of a public offi- Rep. Lucy Torres.
cer against the three police
But Espenido dismissed
officers.
the political angle, saying his
feud with Gomez started beDenial
fore he helped Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa, Sr. exThe actor has vehement- ecute an affidavit identifying
ly denied the accusation and public officials who coddled
said it was the handiwork of the illicit dealings of his son,
his political opponents.
Kerwin Espinosa.
“Nag-file ako ng com“Kasi sa akin naman,
plaint against dun sa tatlong galit si Mayor Richard. Maspulis. Ang isa, kay Major ki wala pa iyung affidavit ni
Laraga for implicating my Mayor Espinosa, talagang
name during the Senate in- pinipersonal ako ni Mayor
vestigation and yung pagsabi Richard,” Espenido told raniya, hindi naman niya vin- dio DZMM.
erify, na kasama ako. Puro
“Nagpunta siya doon,
hearsay lang. Nevertheless, sinabi niya na uubusin ko
sinama niya pa rin pangalan ang intelligence fund ko mako,” Gomez told reporters.
matay lang si Espenido. GalAlthough Gomez was ing iyun sa bibig niya.”
not included in the affidavit
(Mayor Richard has been
of the slain mayor Espinosa, angry with me even before
Espenido said the name of the affidavit of Mayor Espi-
The Weekly
Vanguard
Vol. 1, No. 6
File photo
Ormoc City – After being publicly
cited as an actor in the Espinosa drug
trade, Mayor Richard Gomez has filed
administrative charges against Albuera Police Chief Jovie Espenido,
CIDG’s Leo Larraga and another cop
Heidi Yutrago.
For what is true, for what is just, for what is right!.
Nov. 21 - 26, 2016
nosa . He has made personal
attacks against me. He once
said he will use all his intelligence funds just so Espenido
would die. That came from
his own mouth.)
Duress
In the meantime, the
camp of Gomez has also accused Espenido of forcing witnesses to sign affidavits not of
their own making. Recently,
three former aides have fled
Espenido’s camp and went
to that of Gomez, retracting
their former testimonies and
saying these were fabricated
by Jovie Espenido and PO3
Hydie Yutrago.
The three witnesses Galo Bobares, Max Miro and
Brian Zaldivar - executed
new affidavits recanting previous statements allegedly
made under duress.
The new statements were
taken by Adelito Solibaga
Jr., a lawyer for Ormoc City
Mayor Richard Gomez.
“They confirmed that the
Albuera Police Chief Jovie
Espenido
CIDG’s Chief Inspector Leo
Larraga
affidavits were ready-made
when they were told to sign
the same before a lawyer in
Tacloban,” Solibaga said in a
statement.
The new affidavits were
dated Nov. 10, five days after
the elder Espinosa was killed
inside his detention cell at
the subprovincial jail in Baybay City, Leyte.
But Espenido denied he
coerced the three men. “They
must remember that they
voluntarily approached me
and manifested their intent
to execute those affidavits,”
he said,
Espenido said he believed Gomez was behind
the decision of the three witnesses to recant. “I knew it. I
wonder why they only did it
now,” he said
He also insisted that the
three men gave their original
statements in the presence of
(Go to p. 4)