On Wed, Nov 16, actor and Ormoc City mayor Richard Gomez filed an administrative complaint against the police officers who linked him to the illegal drug trade. Gomez and his wife, Leyte Rep. Lucy Torres Gomez, trooped to the National Police Commission headquarters to file an administrative case against the police officers for gross misconduct, abuse of authority, dishonesty, and conduct unbecoming.
It may be recalled that Chief Inspector Leo Laraga of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) – Region 8 claimed that Gomez was among several politicians who supposedly had ties to the group led by Kerwin Espinosa, the son of the late Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. of the town of Albuera. The latter was recently slain under controversial circumstances.
READ: Richard Gomez, other Leyte gov’t officials accused of ties to Espinosa Drug Group
Espinosa is allegedly the drug lord who controls the illegal drug trade in Eastern Visayas.
In an ABS-CBN News report, Gomez explained, “Nag-file ako ng complaint against dun sa tatlong pulis. Ang isa, kay Major Laraga for implicating my name during the Senate investigation and yung pagsabi niya, hindi naman niya vinerify, na kasama ako. Puro hearsay lang. Nevertheless, sinama niya pa rin pangalan ko.”
(“I filed a complaint against three police officers. One of them is Major Laraga for implicating my name during the Senate investigation and he didn’t even verify what he said. It was all hearsay. Nevertheless, he still included my name.”)
The report noted: “During a Senate hearing last week, Laraga said he heard Albuera Police Chief Jovie Espenido mention Gomez’s name during a case conference as among the politicians involved in the drug trade in the region. The information was supposedly based on the testimony of the late Mayor Espinosa.”
