BACOLOD CITY — Don’t be afraid. Just relax.
This was Lt. Col. Jovie Espenido’s message of assurance to the public, following the statement of President Rodrigo Duterte that he is “free to kill” in Bacolod City.
Espenido also said he will not do anything illegal as he assumed his new assignment as Bacolod City police’s deputy director for operations.
“Dito naman sa ground, tayo naman ang mamahala. So ‘wag kayong matakot kasi tao tayo na may Panginoon din. Relax lang. (On the ground, I will be in charge. So don’t be afraid because I am a man who believes in God. Just relax),” he noted.
In a speech at the 45th Philippine Business Conference & Expo last week, Duterte told Espenido to “go there, you are free to kill everybody.”
“Bacolod is badly hit (by illegal drugs) now. I placed Espenido there. Start killing there. Dalawa na lang tayo pa-preso. (Both of us can go to jail),” the country’s top official said.
Espenido was police chief of Albuera, Leyte in 2016 when then-mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. was killed in his detention cell by cops who said they were serving a search warrant.
In 2017, Espenido was transferred to Ozamiz City and it was under his watch where then-mayor Reynaldo Parojinog and 14 others linked to the illegal drugs trade were killed in a series of raids. /kga