Espenido still needed in Ozamiz, says PNP chief

ILOILO CITY — The police chief of Ozamiz City who led a July 30 raid that killed Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog and 15 others will stay in his post, according to Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa.

Dela Rosa said Chief Insp. Jovie Espenido, who reports said would be reassigned to Iloilo City, said there was no “forthcoming assignment” for the police officer.

Before his Ozamiz assignment, Espenido served as police chief of Albuera town in Leyte province. It was during his watch when Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa was killed in an alleged shootout inside a jail in Baybay City in November last year.

But separate investigations of the National Bureau of Investigation and the Senate concluded that Espinosa and another detainee were murdered.

“Right now, there are still many problems in Ozamiz, so he still needs to be there,” Dela Rosa told reporters on the sidelines of rites commemorating the 116th PNP Service Anniversary at Camp Martin Delgado here on Monday.

According to Dela Rosa, there are “many capable Ilonggo police officials who can do the job, if given the opportunity,” referring to the government’s war on drugs.

It was Dela Rosa who said Espenido might be moved to an area where high-profile drug suspects were operating.

Interviewed by reporters in Metro Manila last week, Espenido warned officials in areas where he would be assigned to stop their involvement in the illegal drug trade.

He said these officials should resign “if they wanted their lives to be spared.”

Last year, President Rodrigo Duterte described Iloilo as a “bedrock” of illegal drugs, although government figures showed that the number of drug-influenced villages in Iloilo and other provinces in Western Visayas region were much lower compared to other areas.

The President also named Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog on his list of officials allegedly involved in illegal drugs. However, no criminal or administrative charges had been filed against Mabilog and three other Iloilo mayors more than a year after Mr. Duterte linked them to the drug trade.

Mabilog, who attended the PNP ceremony where Dela Rosa was guest, declined to give a statement.

But he had repeatedly denied the allegations and had cited programs against illegal drugs implemented by the Iloilo city government.

Dela Rosa said a new drug lord from Iloilo had taken over the illegal drug trade in Western Visayas after the death of suspected drug lord Melvin Odicta last year.