BACOLOD City – This city is “shabulized”, according to Lieutenant Colonel Jovie Espenido, deputy director for operations of the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO).
“Panay ang huli ng pulis…Marami palang drugs,” said Espenido yesterday upon returning to the BCPO after an almost two-month break.
But he expressed confidence that “everything has an end.”
“Mabenta daw dito…very easy magbili ng drugs. Tingnan natin kung hanggang kailan,” said Espenido.
He urged leaders and members of various drug groups to stop their illegal activities, present themselves at the BCPO and help the city police make Bacolod drug-free.
He mentioned the Tolentino, Ramos, Cuadra, and Camaria groups but these mostly operate in Negros Occidental.
Espenido gave them until the end of this month.
Beginning February, Espenido said, his unit would be working aggressively to cleanse Bacolod City of illegal drugs.
He did not discount the possibility that it would be bloody but assured the people of Bacolod that policemen would be upholding the rule of law.
“Makikita sa mga nahuli lately that ang dami, pero bakit ganun pa rin,” lamented Espenido.
He appealed for the cooperation of all policemen.
“Ipakita ninyo na hindi si Espenido nag-iisa,” he said. “Matagal nang problema ito dito. Panay ang huli ng pulis pero bakit hindi matapos.”
President Rodrigo Duterte ordered Espenido’s reassignment to Bacolod City in October last year with the specific goal of eradicating illegal drugs in the city.
“We are police officers, not killers. But if drug dealers resist arrest and fight us, we have to protect ourselves,” according to Espenido.
Espenido was the police chief of Ozamiz City prior to his Bacolod reassignment. He assured the people of Bacolod City that policemen uphold the rule of law and are true to their mission to serve and protect the public. But he won’t promise a bloodless drug war.
On July 30, 2017 Ozamiz City’s Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog and 14 others were killed in a shootout led by Espenido who was serving search warrants at Parojinog’s properties in barangays Baybay San Roque and Baybay Santa Cruz.
In November 2016, Espenido was also the police chief of Albuera, Leyte when its mayor, Rolando Espinosa Sr., was killed in a shootout as police were attempting to serve a search warrant.
Both Parojinog and Espinosa were linked by President Duterte to illegal drugs.
In Aug. 28, 2017 Espenido was reassigned by the President from Ozamiz City to Iloilo City that he branded as “most shabulized.”
The reassignment, however, was recalled just days after by Duterte himself who said he was giving in to the requests of the residents of Ozamiz City not to transfer Espenido yet./PN
