Drug war ‘poster boy’ testifies in House quad-committee

Lt. Col. Jovie Espenido. —File photo

MANILA, Philippines — The former “poster boy” of the war on drugs on Wednesday said that the closest associates of former President Rodrigo Duterte, Senators Christopher “Bong” Go and Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, ordered police officers to use “all means necessary” to eradicate drug suspects — including killing them — and reward the deed.

Lt. Col. Jovie Espenido, former police chief of Albuera, Leyte, made the allegations in a seven-page affidavit to the quad committee of the House of Representatives, where he said that Go had funneled money collected from small-town lottery and “jueteng” lords, intelligence funds and Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos) to an alleged “quota and reward system” for Duterte’s drug war.

Order to ‘eliminate’

He said Dela Rosa, who was then the Philippine National Police chief, personally ordered him to “eliminate” illegal drugs in Leyte, which was commonly understood by policemen as “doing it by all means, including killing.”

“His instruction was, ‘Help me and the President about this war. I will assign you as the chief of police in Albuera so the drugs there should disappear,” Espenido told the quad committee investigating criminal activities during the Duterte administration.

“Did he elaborate [on] how you would do that?” asked Manila Rep. Joel Chua.

“Among us, sir, we use general words that we know the meaning of,” he replied. “If they say ‘mawala,’ kasama na ’yung mamatay (‘eliminate,’ that includes killing). That is very obvious for us.”

Espenido also said it was “automatic” that the “reward” was given or remitted to police regional commanders, provincial commanders, and “the group or individuals who make the kill.”

When asked what motivated him to make the allegations, he told the lawmakers that “what I am saying here is the truth” and that he was aware of the consequences.

Go: All ‘zarzuela’

In a statement, Go dismissed Espenido’s claims as malicious and defamatory, saying it was just part of a “zarzuela” and political maneuvers to “paint us black so they will appear white.”

Duterte’s former aide said he was studying his legal options to protect his name from individuals trying to link him to Pogos.

He also maintained that Pogo money never funded the previous administration’s antidrug campaign.

“I can categorically say that I was never involved in Pogo and the supposed reward system in the drug war,” Go said.

“When I was still the special assistant to the president, I never handled any funds related to the drug war and most especially anything from Pogo. More so when I became [a] senator in 2019,” he said.

Dela Rosa declined to directly respond to Espenido’s allegations since he was not able to monitor his former subordinate’s testimony at the House hearing.

He, however, reiterated that he never ordered Espenido or any other PNP officer to kill those involved in the drug trade.

“I was only referring to legal means when I said ‘get rid of illegal drugs in your jurisdiction,’” Dela Rosa told reporters.

Go and Dela Rosa were elected to the Senate in 2019 after serving the Duterte administration.

Espenido said during the quad committee hearing that intelligence funds were also used in the drug war.

“Pogo money was also used. After these Pogos were able to register with the government, funding was funneled downward from the level of Bong Go,” he said.

Cash rewards

Some local governments also awarded P100,000 for successful arrests involving big-time drug pushers, he said. There was also a reward of P20,000 per kill in the drug war facilitated by “bagmen” — often noncommissioned police officers — who acted at the “beck and call of regional and provincial directors.”

As for the quota system, Espenido said it was “50-100 a day [which] we took to mean that we had to knock on the doors of 50-100 households suspected of drug use or pushing.”

It’s the first time an active-duty police officer has publicly admitted to such a system, which human rights groups have long suspected.

The number of arrested or slain drug suspects was tallied as “accomplishments” in the drug war. The official tally of deaths in Duterte’s bloody six-year campaign is over 6,000, but human rights watchdogs say the number could be as high as 30,000.

Espinosa slay

Espenido was police chief of his hometown of Albuera before he was transferred to Ozamiz City, Misamis Occidental, after Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr., who was held in jail on drug charges, was killed by members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) implementing a search warrant in November 2016.

Following Espinosa’s killing, Espenido said the CIDG action would instill fear in other potential informants on the drug trade, like the slain mayor, whom he allegedly convinced to identify the officials and police officers protecting the mayor’s son’s alleged illegal drug operation.

As Ozamiz police chief, Espenido led an antidrug raid on the house of Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Jr., where the mayor and 14 other people were killed. Parojinog was in a Duterte “narcolist” of drug lords.

Espenido was praised by Duterte, who said he was “free to kill everybody.”

Fall from grace

In 2019, he was transferred to Bacolod City, where he served as deputy police chief until he fell from grace the following year when he appeared in the second batch of names added to Duterte’s narcolist.

Then Interior Secretary Eduardo Año confirmed that Espenido was on the list, which was still subject to verification even as he stood by its reliability. The names on the list were sourced from the PNP, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, and the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Año said.

Dismayed over his inclusion on the list, Espenido said it was a failure of intelligence on the part of the PNP.

He said that he was included in the drug watch list in 2016, but was cleared by the PNP itself in 2017.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Espenido said that the PNP was the “biggest crime group in this country.” In his affidavit, he said that “there can be no drug lords without policemen protecting them.”

Acierto testimony

In a hearing by the House committee on dangerous drugs in June, former Police Col. Eduardo Acierto, who is now in hiding, identified former Duterte economic adviser Michael Yang as a drug lord and that Duterte, Dela Rosa, and Go allegedly knew this but ignored his report on the ex-President’s Chinese friend.

Acierto also accused Duterte of wanting him killed due to his knowledge of the former president’s links with Yang and other individuals involved in illegal drug activities.

Espenido faces six counts of homicide in the killing of six suspected members of the “Martilyo Gang” in 2017 in Ozamiz. The bodies of the six men killed during a raid were laid under the sun near the police station until their relatives claimed them.

He is out on bail while awaiting resolution of the case.

—WITH REPORTS FROM MARLON RAMOS AND INQUIRER RESEARCH