DoJ backpedals, raps Espinosa, Co

The Department of Justice (DoJ) reversed an earlier ruling and ordered the indictment of alleged drug lords Kerwin Espinosa and Peter Co along with several other personalities for the sale and distribution of the illegal methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu.

The DoJ earlier had dismissed the charges against Espinosa, Co and Cebu-based businessman Peter Lim as the panel of investigators said it found the testimony of sole government witness Marcelo Adorco to be inconsistent.

The DoJ then created a new group under Assistant State Prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera to review the original findings that triggered public uproar. The justice department is investigating the case of Lim separately.

“The resolution does not include the complaint against respondent Peter Go Lim, as he filed a motion for separate preliminary investigation that the panel earlier granted. The case of respondent Lim is pending resolution,” the Office of the Prosecutor General of the DoJ said in a statement.

The Navera panel “found sufficient the positive allegations of Marcelo Adorco identifying Espinosa and Co” as among his cohorts.

Espinosa and Co were charged with conspiracy to commit illegal drugs trade.

The Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG), said both are involved in the alleged distribution of shabu in regions 7 and 8 by the so-called “Espinosa Group.”

The investigations covered alleged drug transactions from February 2013 to August 2015 involving at least 90 kilos of shabu sourced from Lim and Co in separate incidents on Feb. 5, 2013 (20 kilos-Co), Feb. 16, 2013 (20 kilos-Lim) and June 7, 2015 (50 kilos-Lim) and distributed by Espinosa’s men in Bohol, Samar, Northern and Southern Leyte, Biliran and some parts of Cebu.

The Navera panel followed the standard applied on detained Sen. Leila de Lima–presenting drugs as concrete evidence of drug trade is not necessary.

“Under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, conspiracy to commit illegal drugs trade is an offense distinct from drug trading. The law said the agreement to trade in drugs is the gravamen of such an offense. The drugs themselves as the corpus delicti of drug trading is not necessary under Section 26 (B) of the law,” the DoJ said.

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