Alleged drug lord and Albuera, Leyte mayoral candidate Kerwin Espinosa was shot by still unidentified assailants Thursday afternoon.

Espinosa was shot around 4:30 PM while campaigning in Barangay Tinag-an, according to Albuera councilor aspirant Carl Kevin Batistis.

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 is running under his local party, Bando Espinosa-Pundok Kausaban.

Kerwin’s father, Rolando, a former mayor of Albuera, was gunned down on 5 November 2016, for allegedly trying to engage operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in a shootout while he was detained for drug charges at the sub-provincial jail in Baybay City, Leyte.

Rolando was one of the mayors tagged in the illegal drug trade by Duterte. Before his death, he surrendered to the Philippine National Police and admitted he and his son, Kerwin, had been manufacturing and trafficking shabu from their base in Albuera.

Kerwin 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, with a platform of ridding his hometown of illegal drugs.