(Eagle News) – The lawyer of controversial drug dealer Kerwin Espinosa was shot dead on Monday, February 19, in an ambush after attending a hearing for his client in Cebu City in one of the busiest sections of the city
Lawyer Jan Ungab was declared dead at around 2 p.m. after two unidentified gunman staged an ambush, shooting him twice in the head while he was inside his car just before noon.
Ungab, who was also the vice-mayor of Ronda town in Cebu, was ambushed at the North Reclamation Area, just a few meters away from the Cebu City Palace of Justice.
He was declared dead at a hospital in Mandaue City at around 2 pm.
Police have not yet identified the two-motorcycle riding gunmen who shot him.
Before he was ambushed, he attended the hearing for his client, Kerwin Espinosa in a Cebu City court where Kerwin was convicted for violation of the gun ban under Omnibus Election Code in 2010, but was acquitted in the illegal possession of firearms case.
Espinosa is still facing separate charges of illegal drug trading and possession of illegal firearms and explosives at the Manila Regional Trial Court.
These other cases are being heard at the Manila court and not in the Baybay Regional Trial Court on the basis of a Supreme Court order.
Both the prosecution and the defense had asked the High Court for the venue transfer, citing security reasons.
In 2016, Kerwin had testified before the senate during the hearing investigating the death of his father, former Albuera City Mayor Rolando Espinosa, and in separate hearings on illegal drugs.
In a hearing on November 23 he also detailed how he gave Senator Leila de Lima a total of P8 million for her senatorial campaign through her former driver and lover Ronnie Dayan.
In the hearing on Monday in Cebu City, Regional Trial Court Judge Generosa Labra found the young Espinosa guilty of violating Commission Elections (Comelec) Resolution 8714 and sentenced him to one year in prison.
Although Espinosa had a firearm license and was acquitted of the charge of illegal possession of a firearm, he failed to secure an exemption from the Comelec gun ban.
(Eagle News Service)