Filipino drug lord Kerwin flies to Manila today

LATEST: Filipino drug lord Kerwin back in Manila
Kerwin Espinosa, the alleged big-time Filipino drug lord nabbed in Abu Dhabi last month, has been handed over to the Philippine police and will be travelling on Thursday afternoon to Manila.

This was confirmed to Khaleej Times by Sandra Cam, the president of Whistleblowers Association of the Philippines, who will accompany Kerwin back home.

Aside from Cam, Kerwin will be escorted by three senior Philippine police officers led by Col Albert Ferro, acting director of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Anti-Illegal Drugs Group, and a couple of Manila-based reporters.
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Cam visited Kerwin, tagged as number two on the most wanted list by the PNP in connection with illegal drugs trade, at Al Wathba Jail in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. She did not give any flight details but said they will arrive early Friday morning in Manila.

"Security will be very tight," Cam said. "As soon Kerwin lands in Manila, he will be brought directly to the police headquarters in Camp Crame and I promised him that I will be with him all throughout the journey."

PNP spokesperson Col Dionardo Carlos said Kerwin will pass through secured routes from the Manila airport to Camp Crame. "Upon the arrival of the convoy at Camp Crame, there will be two possible scenarios: Scenario one, he will be immediately presented to the media then he would undergo booking procedure and medical check-up afterwards. Second scenario, he will undergo booking procedures and then he will be presented to the media once he is done," Carlos said.
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"(Philippine) President (Rodrigo) Duterte ordered us to protect him. He needs Kerwin alive," underlined Cam, who claims to have facilitated the arrest of Kerwin following an anonymous tip off from a UAE resident.

Fearing for his life after what happened to his father, Albuera town mayor Rolando Espinosa, who was killed in an alleged shootout inside a Philippine provincial jail, Kerwin asked last week to be placed under Philippine government's witness protection programme (WPP) to testify against his government and police protectors.

Cam said: "He (Kerwin) is willing to cooperate. He has already given me names which I can not divulge yet but there are police generals and a key politician. That's why he is so afraid of his life and of his family."

When asked whether or not the 'key politician' is incumbent senator Leila de Lima, a staunch Duterte critic, Cam did not confirm although De Lima earlier told Philippine media that the government is using Kerwin to implicate her in the multi-billion peso illegal drugs trade.

"Maybe she's just guilty," Cam told Khaleej Times. "You know, she's a big liar. Remember back in 2012, I already said that she's having a relationship with her driver/ bodyguard who also serves as her bagman."

"She (de Lima) said I'm a liar but recently she admitted that indeed had a relationship with her driver. Deep in her heart she knows she accepted drug money from Kerwin and other drug lords.  Wait until Kerwin arrives in Manila he is willing to tell all," Cam stressed.

When asked if she will accept the two-million peso (Dh150,000) reward for the arrest of Kerwin, Cam said she does not need it.

"Even my employees who tipped off the police will not get the bounty. We're helping the government and this is for the country. It's up to the PNP to whom they will give it.  But as for me, I will not get even a single dirham," Cam said.

"It's not easy to do this as a civilian and a woman at that to be with a fugitive but because I made my piece yesterday with Kerwin, I have to ensure that he will safely arrive in the Philippines," added Cam, who runs a trading and cleaning company in Abu Dhabi.

Cam said after escorting Kerwin back home she will return to Abu Dhabi to fetch Kerwin's wife and three young children. "Then Kerwin will decide whether he wants his family to stay in the Philippines or abroad."

She added: "Bringing Kerwin back home is a success for all of us especially for the government stop all this drug problem in the country. Kerwin will help pinpoint who are culpable and I want them to be put in front of a firing squad."

"These dirty generals and politicians - they should be jailed or killed. I will tell the president to give them the full force of the law," Cam underlined.

angel@khaleejtimes.com

• Philippines

Angel Tesorero

angel@khaleejtimes.com