Former convict and self-confessed drug user Kerwin Espinosa accused Senator Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa of coercing him to implicate former Senator Leila de Lima in the illegal drug trade.

Espinosa made the revelation during a House inquiry into the Duterte administration’s drug war on Friday.

Aside from De Lima, Espinosa disclosed that he was also intimidated by the police to implicate Cebu-based businessman Peter Lim, his alleged shabu supplier.

Espinosa said De la Rosa threatened him with a similar fate as his father, former Albuera, Leyte mayor Rolando Espinosa, who was shot dead in his cell in 2016. Both father and son were included in Duterte’s narco-list.

Kerwin believes that his father’s murder was ordered by former President Duterte. He recalled being intimidated and prohibited from attending his father’s funeral while detained in Camp Crame.

In 2016, Kerwin implicated De Lima as part of the illicit drug trade inside the National Bilibid Prison. De Lima, a staunch critic of the “Davao Death Squad,” was detained in 2017.

The opposition senator deemed the cases against her as payback for her efforts in investigating the DDS.

In June, De Lima was acquitted of the last drug charges filed against her.

Later in the hearing, Espinosa offered his sincere apology to De Lima.

Kerwin has been out of jail since 2023 and will run for mayor in his hometown, Albuera, in Leyte in the 2025 polls.