A still-active officer of the Philippine National Police (PNP) testified that former PNP chief and now Sen. Ronald ‘Bato’ Dela Rosa had given the thumbs up to the killing spree against suspected drug users and pushers during the Duterte administration, while also protecting one of the country’s biggest drug lords.
Dela Rosa, however, denied ever ordering PCol. Jovie Espenido to kill any drug suspects.
What the Senator admitted to was instructing Espenido to “neutralize” the drug threat in his assigned area, and only then within the confines of the law.
Dela Rosa said he only instructed Espenido to “finish the problem” in Albuera town in Leyte, which had a serious drug problem, where mayor Rolando Espinosa was the suspected head of the local drug syndicate.
The mayor was later killed in an alleged shootout with Criminal Investigation and Detection Group operatives while under arrest in a provincial jail. His son, Kerwin, was also accused of being a top drug lord in Eastern Visayas but the government’s cases against him were eventually dropped. He, however, continues to face money laundering raps, as well as two cases of illegal possession of dangerous drugs as well as illegal possession of firearms.
Thus, while the Duterte administration was held responsible for the killing of Rolando Espinosa, then PNP chief Dela Rosa “protected” Kerwin Espinosa by seeking the dismissal of drug charges against him.
“I believe that Chief dela Rosa was involved in the dismissal of the cases that I built up against Kerwin Espinosa including the burying of the cases that I was building against his protectors or coddlers who have been receiving money from him, ”Espenido said in a statement to the House of Representatives.
After his father was killed, Kerwin left the country but was later found to be in Dubai, where he was deported back to Manila.
Espenido said Dela Rosa ordered Kerwin turned over to the PNP’s Anti-illegal Drug Group instead of to his unit, which was then investigating the drug cases allegedly involving the son of the slain mayor.
Espenido said he later learned that no case had been filed against Kerwin, leading him to conclude that the PNP itself had become the country’s biggest crime organization.
Espenido said that after he had “neutralized” mayor Espinosa, he was reassigned to Ozamis City.
There, he went after another mayor suspected of being similarly involved in the illegal drug trade.
Ozamis Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Sr. and 14 others were killed by police serving them arrest warrants for drug charges.
Espenido said he believed he was doing what Dela Rosa, with the tacit approval of then president Rodrigo Duterte, had asked, which was to take all possible actions to stop the drug trade.
Instead of being rewarded for his successes, Espenido said he did not get the promotions that he was expecting, possibly because he refused to go easy on some suspects that he now believes were under the protection of Dela Rosa.
The Senator dismissed Espenido’s claims, saying his orders had not been properly understood or interpreted by his subordinate.
Dela Rosa vehemently denied being a protector of drug personalities, saying he would bet his life and that of his family if he had ever been a protector of drug pushers and syndicates.
If Espenido truly believed that the PNP was the biggest crime syndicate, why is he still with the service, Dela Rosa asked.
