Top cop in Parojinog raid to get award
The police chief that led the bloody operation targeting Ozamiz City’s top political family, the Parojinogs, will receive an award for his “accomplishments” in antidrugs operations.
In a press conference at the Philippine National Police headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City, on Monday, PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa confirmed that Ozamiz City Police Chief Insp. Jovie Espenido would be one of the awardees during the police service anniversary celebration on Wednesday.
But Dela Rosa was quick to “correct” any perception that the award was for the antinarcotics operation on the Parojinogs, which left 16 people dead, including Ozamiz Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Jr. and his wife, Susan. Their daughter Nova, Ozamiz vice mayor and girlfriend of jailed drug lord Herbert Colanggo, was also arrested in the raid.
“Even before the Ozamiz incident, Espenido was already listed among the awardees for his accomplishments during antidrug operations in Albuera, Leyte, and in Ozamiz. Drug activities significantly dropped in Ozamiz because of his leadership at the Ozamiz city police station,” Dela Rosa said in Filipino.
Espenido was also the police commander of Albuera, Leyte, when Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr., detained for alleged drug trafficking, was killed when he supposedly engaged in a shootout the police serving him a search warrant inside the subprovincial jail in Baybay City in November 2016.
Espenido had denied presiding over the operation on Espinosa. The accountability largely fell on regional Criminal Investigation and Detection Group chief Senior Supt. Marvin Marcos.
Mayor Parojinog and his daughter Nova were named last year in President Duterte’s controversial “narcopoliticians” list, while Mayor Espinosa, months before his death, was suspected of drug involvement due to his son Kerwin’s reputation as a notorious drug lord in eastern Visayas.
Kerwin, now detained by the police, had testified in a Senate hearing that Espenido used to accept bribes. However, Dela Rosa said that when he confronted Kerwin about it after the hearing, the younger Espinosa admitted otherwise, saying he only spoke out of anger.
“He said Espenido would reply with Bible verses when he (Kerwin) would text him to come over to pick up money. Which was an indication that the person could not be corrupted, that he didn’t want to accept bribes,” Dela Rosa said.
