Lacson asks PNP to check basis of Espenido’s inclusion on narco list

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) should check if there is a basis for the inclusion of Lt. Col. Jovie Espenido in the narcolist of President Rodrigo Duterte, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said Saturday.

Espenido, who was relieved from his post as Bacolod City police chief after being included in the narcolist, was among the enforcers of Duterte’s bloody drug war.

But Lacson insisted that the country’s police force should verify if Espenido’s inclusion was when he was the police chief of Albuera town in Leyte province in 2016.

“It seems that his inclusion in the narcolist was based on an old reason, back when he was assigned in Albuera,” Lacson said in Filipino. “Anyway, we can ask the PNP [Philippine National Police] to verify what really is the basis for including him in the narco list.”

Espenido was the police chief of Albuera when Rolando Espinosa Jr., a former town mayor who was tagged as a drug lord, was killed in his jail cell by policemen who said they were serving a search warrant.

The senator said Espenido was already cleared from this list after a resolution in May 2017 showing that he had been cleared from the narco list.

If this is the case, the PNP should correct its data so that the public will be fair to Espenido, Lacson said.

/atm