Aguirre firm in lowering raps vs police investigators in Espinosa case

June 28, 2017

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Wednesday approved the downgrading of charges against 19 members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) team implicated in the killing of Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa and fellow inmate Raul Yap inside a sub-provincial jail in November last year. The lower of charges from murder to homicide allowed the policemen to post bail recently. Aguirre said he has read the resolution by DOJ Undersecretary Reynate Orceo last May 29 and agreed with his findings. "As what I said at the very beginning, I support the findings of Usec. Orceo. I can vouch for this integrity," Aguirre stressed. "Actually, the existence of evidence premeditation in the case has not been proven to qualify the killing to murder," Aguirre said in a text message. Thus, Aguirre upheld the justice department’s resolution downgrading the cases against the 19 accused, led by Supt. Marvin Marcos before Baybay City Regional Trial Court, Branch 14, from murder to homicide. In a motion filed before the Baybay RTC two weeks ago, the justice department amended the cases against the accused based on its resolution on their petition for review. The DOJ denied the plea of the CIDG men for dismissal of the cases. DMS