President Duterte on Thursday said he moved controversial Police Lt. Col. Jovie Espenido to Bacolod City to resolve the illegal drugs issue there once and for all and added he gave Espenido the green light to “kill everybody” there.
In a speech at the historic landmark Manila Hotel, Duterte said Espenido, who has been named deputy city police director for operations, is the answer to Bacolod’s drug problem.
“Bacolod is badly hit now. I placed Espenido there, ‘yung kinatakutan nila na pulis,” he said.
“Sabi ko, ‘Go there and you are free to kill everybody.’ T**g i***g ‘yan. ‘Start killing them. Dalawa na tayo magpa-preso,'” he added.
Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo had earlier said that Duterte approved the deployment of Espenido to Bacolod after receiving complaints about the illegal drugs trade in the city.
“Nasa Bacolod ako marami nagpunta sa akin nagrereklamo on drugs. That’s why sinabi ko kay Presidente marami report dito, ganito ganyan,” Panelo said last week.
“Sabi niya sa akin na, ‘Kaya nandyan si Espenido. ‘Yan ang response ko diyan sa problema nila sa Bacolod,'” he added.
Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año reminded law enforcement authorities yesterday to strictly follow the rule of law in the conduct of their illegal drug operations following Duterte’s order to Espenido.
However, Año clarified the President is fond of making exaggerated declarations to put emphasis on pressing issues like illegal drugs.
Ano shrugged off the President’s order and noted Duterte knows it cannot be done literally, explaining that reasonable force may be used if criminals resist and fight back that put the lives of law enforcers in peril.
Espenido rose to fame after two suspected narcopoliticians ended up dead during his stint as police chief in Albuera, Leyte, and Ozamiz City.
Espenido was the chief of police of Albuera when the drug-linked Mayor Rolando Espinosa was shot dead inside his jail cell at the Leyte sub-provincial jail in Abuyog in 2016.
A year later, as Ozamiz police chief, Espenido led the drug raids that led to the killing of Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog and several others.
Following the controversial raid in Ozamiz City, Durterte gave Espenido a special award for his outstanding performance in the anti-illegal drug operations in Eastern Visayas and Ozamiz City. (Argyll Cyrus B. Geducos and Chito Chavez)
