MANILA – Boxing icon and Senator Emmanuel “Pacman” Pacquiao on Friday visited the alleged top drug lord from the Eastern Visayas, Kerwin Espinosa, who has been detained at Camp Crame following his deportation from Abu Dhabi.
The meeting between Senator Pacquiao and Espinosa was upon a request from Espinosa, his lawyers Lani VIllarin and John Ungab said.
Interviewed just outside of the compound of the PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Group (AIDG), where Espinosa will execute an affidavit, the two lawyers said Pacquiao asked Espinosa if he would be willing to testify before the Senate as it conducts an inquiry into the death of his father, Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr.
The elder Espinosa and fellow inmate Raul Yap were killed after he allegedly engaged law enforcers in a firefight inside his cell at the Baybay City sub-provincial jail in Leyte last November 5, 2016.
“The meeting was by the request of Kerwin Espinosa,” Villarin said.
Pacquiao, in a television interview with the ABS-CBN network, said Espinosa gave him a detailed account of his transactions, including deals with high-profile government officials.
Pacquiao and Espinosa were then joined in the meeting by PNP chief Director General Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa, but he did not stay throughout the hour-long meeting.
The AIDG started gathering detailed information from Espinosa on Friday afternoon.
Espinosa earlier vowed to tell all about the protectors and distributors involved in his drug network.
Villarin said Espinosa’s list contains names of ranking government officials and members of the police force.
The lawyers said they will accompany Espinosa when he executes an affidavit before AIDG’s Legal and Investigation Division Chief Lawyer Enrico Rigor.
