Manila: A Philippines mayor who had been accused of drug trafficking by President Rodrigo Duterte was shot and killed by police officers in his jail cell on Saturday, the police said.
Mayor Rolando Espinosa snr of Albuera, a town in Leyte province in central Philippines, had been arrested in October, several weeks after Mr Duterte included him in a list of about 150 Philippines officials he said were involved in narcotics. Mr Espinosa, who had denied any wrongdoing, is the second politician on the list to have been killed by police officers in a little more than a week.
The Leyte provincial police said Saturday that Mr Espinosa and his cellmate, identified as Raul Yap, had been killed in a "firefight" with police officers, who woke them at dawn while searching their cell. The provincial police chief, Juvy Espinido, told a Manila radio station that both men had "resisted" the police.
Later, the police said they had recovered two handguns from the jail cell. Bags containing what was believed to be methamphetamine, marijuana and drug paraphernalia were also found inside the cell, the police said.
Gwendolyn Pimentel-Gana, a member of the Philippine Commission on Human Rights, an independent government body, called on the police to "hold the people responsible for the deaths accountable".
Mr Espinosa died just eight days after Samsudin Dimaukom, another mayor accused of drug crimes by Mr Duterte, was killed by police officers in the southern Philippines. Mr Dimaukom, who also denied being involved in narcotics, was gunned down at a police checkpoint along with nine men travelling with him; the police said people in Mr Dimaukom's party had fired on officers.
Since taking office in June, Mr Duterte has embarked on a bloody campaign against drugs that has left thousands of people dead, some killed by police officers and others by vigilantes. Human rights groups and Western governments have criticised the campaign, but it has been popular in the Philippines.
Mr Espinosa, who was accused by Mr Duterte along with his son, Kerwin, turned himself in to the police in Manila, while his son went into hiding. The son has since been detained in Abu Dhabi, and Philippines officials said they were seeking to have him returned.
New York Times