DILG confirms drug war enforcer Espenido on Duterte narcolist

February 14 ------ Interior Secretary Eduardo Año confirmed on Thursday that Lt. Col. Jovie Espenido—who became controversial for his hard-hitting campaign against illegal drugs—was relieved from his post as Bacolod City police chief after he was added to President Rodrigo Duterte’s so-called narcolist. The disclosure prompted lawmakers to raise fresh questions about the conduct of Mr. Duterte’s brutal drug war, even as Espenido’s former associates who are now in the Senate vouched for his character. “That’s true,” Año told the Inquirer when asked if Espenido’s name was on the narcolist. But the Cabinet official added that Espenido “will also undergo validation and possible investigation.” Espenido declined the Inquirer’s request for an interview.

One of the enforcers of Mr. Duterte’s war on drugs, Espenido was the police chief of Albuera, Leyte province, in 2016 when Rolando Espinosa Jr., then the town’s mayor who was detained for being an alleged drug lord, was killed in his cell by policemen who claimed they were serving a search warrant. A month later, Espenido was removed from his post after he was named by Espinosa’s son, Kerwin, as the conduit to Ronnie Dayan, the alleged bagman of Sen. Leila de Lima, whom the Duterte administration had detained on drug trafficking charges.

Kerwin Espinosa, who is now detained by the police, had testified in a Senate hearing that Espenido used to accept bribes. Former Philippine National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa, who was elected senator last year, said that when he confronted Kerwin, the younger Espinosa said he was only speaking out of anger. From Albuera, Espenido was transferred to Ozamiz City. On July 31, 2017, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group led the police operation that resulted in the killing of Ozamiz Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Sr. and 14 others in a raid on the mayor’s home.

Like Espinosa, Parojinog was identified by the President as a drug lord. On Oct. 8 that year, Judge Edmundo Pintac of the Ozamiz Regional Trial Court Branch 15 was shot dead by four men on two motorcycles as he was driving home. About a week later, Espenido was transferred to Catanduanes on orders of then PNP chief Oscar Albayalde. Espenido would be reassigned anew to Samar, until Mr. Duterte ordered his transfer back to Ozamiz in November.

In October 2019, Espenido was transferred to Bacolod City. Mr. Duterte, who described the city as being “badly hit” by drugs, said his marching orders to him were: “Go there, you are free to kill everybody.”

Source: inquirer.net