Court

allows self-confessed drug lord Espinosa to post bail

A REGIONAL trial court (RTC) in Leyte province has granted the petition of self-confessed drug lord Rolan "Kerwin" Espinosa and four other co-accused to post bail over charges they engaged in the illegal drug trade.

Baybay City RTC Branch 14 Presiding Judge Carlos Arguelles, in an order dated June 13, 2023, allowed the bail petition of Espinosa, Brian Anthony Zaldivar, Alfred Cres Batistis, Jose Antipuesto, and Marcelo Adorco, amounting to P700,000

By Macon Ramos-Araneta and Rey E. Requejo

COMPLETING an evacuation plan for Filipino migrant workers in Taiwan – which is constantly under threat of invasion by China -- should precede any US relocation of refugees from Afghanistan to the Philippines, Senator Imee Marcos said Wednesday.

DILG chief warns of 'powerful syndicate' inside PNP

By Joel E. Zurbano

mation and why no one was cooperating during the probe.

each for their respective provisional liberty. This was due to the “failure of the prosecution to prove that evidence of guilt against them is strong,” Arguelles said in his ruling.

Espinosa, however, will still remain behind bars because he is still facing two other non-bailable cases before the Manila RTC — one for drugs and another for illegal possession of firearms and

THE Department of the Interior and Local Government is looking into the possibility that a powerful syndicate inside the police force was behind the P6.7 billion drug bust in Tondo, Manila eight months ago.

DILG secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. said this group could be the reason investigators find it difficult to gather infor-

Abalos said this prompted him and then Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Rodolfo Azurin Jr. to call for courtesy resignations of police generals and colonels in January.

“I felt so frustrated, what's happening here. What we should do after the resignation, we want to make sure to [let] them [know] that we’re serious. We will put you behind bars. That’s what we are doing right now. We are really house cleaning everything,” said Abalos in an interview with CNN Philippines.

While the graft charges and other criminal complaints against 50 police officials were already filed on Friday with the Office of the Ombudsman, Abalos said the National Police Commission

This developed as Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez debunked insinuations that the American proposal for Manila to allow the entry and temporary housing of Afghan nationals was kept secret from the public.

Marcos, who chairs the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, said the evacuation plan should be the immediate

Palace: June 28 a holiday for Eid’l Adha

JUNE 28 will be a national holiday in line with the Islamic celebration of Eid’l Adha or the Feast of Sacrifice, Malacañang announced on Wednesday.

Proclamation No. 258, dated 13 June 2023 and signed by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, said Eid’l Adha is one of the greatest feasts of Islam being celebrated by Muslims worldwide to mark the end of Ramadan.

“Following the 1444 Hijrah Islamic Lunar Calendar, the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos has recommended that 28 June 2023, Wednesday, be declared a national holiday, in observance of Eid’l Adha,” the proclamation added.