Albuera police chief linked to drugs sacked

Chief Insp. Jovie Espenido

TACLOBAN CITY—Chief Insp. Jovie Espenido has been removed as police chief of Albuera in Leyte province a month after he was named by alleged drug lord Kerwin Espinosa as the conduit to Ronnie Dayan, alleged bagman and lover of Sen. Leila de Lima.

Espenido, who has filed illegal drugs and illegal possession of firearms cases against Kerwin and his father, slain Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr., was reassigned to Ozamiz City in Misamis Occidental province, effective on Dec. 8.

“I don’t know if this is a reward or a punishment after what I have accomplished in Albuera,” he told the Inquirer in a phone interview on Saturday night.

“But I am a police officer, so I have just to follow the order,” he said.

Philippine National Police Director General Ronald dela Rosa signed the transfer order.

Espenido said he didn’t know why he was relieved from the post he had held since July 18.

Politicians?

Asked what could be the reason he was removed in the middle of his campaign against the illegal drugs, Espenido said, “I guess some of our politicians.”

He did not mention names. But one of Espenido’s vocal critics was Mayor Richard Gomez of Ormoc City in Leyte, who has accused the officer of being a henchman of his political opponents.

Reached for comment, Gomez said in a text message: “Is he a crybaby? Ozamiz is a good place for him. There’s a big chance he will meet his match there. He was not [antidrugs] in the first place. He has been playing politics all his police career.”

Gomez was earlier mentioned in a Senate hearing as among those who allegedly received protection money from Espinosa’s son Kerwin.

Gomez has denied the allegation and has filed administrative cases against Espenido whom he accused of being close to the Codillas, considered the political enemy of Gomez and his wife, Leyte Rep. Lucy Torres Gomez.

Kerwin told the Senate inquiry on the death of his father inside the subprovincial jail in Baybay City last month that the signature on the affidavit was not the mayor’s.

De Lima’s campaign

Kerwin cleared Gomez and instead accused Espenido as the officer who introduced him to Dayan, who allegedly asked Kerwin to contribute to De Lima’s campaign for a Senate seat in May.

De Lima has been accused of receiving protection money from drug lords when she was justice secretary, a charge she has denied.

Espenido has denied Kerwin’s claim and told senators that he was willing to issue a waiver to allow the National Telecommunications Commission to open his call logs to check if he had indeed called Kerwin.

Espenido maintained that he had done a lot in Albuera.

“We were able to dismantle the drug operations of the Espinosas,” he said.

Mayor Espinosa was killed inside his cell during a raid on Nov. 5 at the Leyte jail by a police team led by Supt. Marvin Marcos, who claimed that it was a shootout.

Marcos and his men were relieved from their post only to be reinstated by President Duterte.

The National Bureau of Investigation has concluded that the deaths of the mayor and another inmate, Raul Yap, were premeditated murders.