Comelec condemns shooting of Kerwin Espinosa

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) condemned the shooting of Albuera, Leyte mayoral candidate Kerwin Espinosa while campaigning on Thursday afternoon.

Espinosa, who is running under his local party, Bando Espinosa-Pundok Kausaban, was shot by still unidentified assailants around 4:30 p.m. while campaigning in Barangay Tinag-an.

"Any act of violence should be condemned by anyone. The perpetrators must be unmasked and brought to justice immediately," Comelec Chairperson George Garcia said in a statement sent to reporters.

"Election is never about killing but is instead the giving of life to our democracy. Ballots not bullets is the answer to our problems," Garcia added.

Espinosa, 47, was previously identified as "the biggest drug lord" in Eastern Visayas and was arrested during the Duterte administration.

He had testified against former Senator Leila de Lima in her drug-related cases—a testimony he later recanted.

Espinosa was arrested by authorities in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on 17 October 2016, and was deported to Manila after a month.

He was charged in court for his alleged involvement in the illegal drug trade. However, the drug cases filed against him were dismissed by the Regional Trial Courts in Makati, Manila, and Baybay City in Leyte for insufficiency of evidence.

Following his acquittal, Espinosa expressed his intention to run for mayor of Albuera, on a platform of ridding his hometown of illegal drugs.