A high-ranking police officer is the latest addition to a list of witnesses who have dropped the bomb in relation to former president Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war.
The new “witness” is no less than Police Lieutenant Colonel Jovie Espenido, the drug war’s former poster boy, who was thrust to the national spotlight for leading big ticket anti-drug operations under the former administration. During the House mega-panel’s hearing on Wednesday, August 28, Espenido revealed how the Philippine National Police (PNP) was used in the bloody drug war that killed close to 30,000 people.
“From my experience I can say that the PNP is the biggest crime group in this country. I did my job faithfully but I could not be promoted because I am always in some derogatory list,” Espenido said in his affidavit seen by Rappler. The document was also submitted in the House mega-panel.
The cop made himself nationally relevant for his anti-drug operation that led to the death of Ozamiz City Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog and 14 others. He was also the local police chief of Albuera, Leyte when its mayor, Rolando Espinosa, was killed by cops during the service of a warrant in his detention cell. After the big-time operations, Duterte hailed Espenido and even told him he was “free to kill everybody.”
What is Espenido’s motive for testifying in Congress if he had good ties with Duterte before?
“The documentation that I want to share to this quad committee, I want them to be penalized through this affidavit that I gave you,” the cop said in a mix of Filipino and English, clarifying that he holds no grudges against anyone.
But Espenido’s run was not entirely smooth as he later landed in the former president’s own anti-drug list. This was a big blow to Duterte’s anti-drug campaign because his favored cop was tagged in the very crime that they had fought.
License to kill?
Espenido said he was “personally handpicked” by PNP-chief-turned-Senator Bato dela Rosa to lead the Albuera police during the time of Duterte. He was tasked to disband the alleged drug group led by alleged drug lord Kerwin, the late mayor’s son. As he pursued Kerwin, Espenido said he would directly report to Dela Rosa and Duterte himself.
Later in 2016, Espenido was assigned to head the Ozamiz police to “dismantle the Parojinog drug operations by all means necessary” which “in police language…included neutralization or elimination of the target.”
“What I said, your honor, it is very common for the officers and it only has one meaning. By all means, it’s up to the discretion of operatives or front liners or the ones who implement search or arrest warrants,” Espenido said.
“So does this include killing?” lawmakers asked, to which Espenido replied, “It’s included there, your honor.”
“What’s wrong in neutralizing illegal drugs? You have to neutralize the drug problem, right? Did I order the killing of people? I did not order to kill people,” Dela Rosa said when asked for his reaction to Espenido’s testimony on Wednesday.
Aside from reiterating that there were human rights violations committed in the drug war, Espenido confirmed what human rights groups and other sectors have been saying all along: police had quotas of killings to meet in the drug war.
“I confirm that there was a quota and reward system in the implementation of the war on drugs during the previous administration. I truly wanted to implement it without causing deaths. When the leadership imposed a quota of 50-100 per day, we only took it to mean that we had to knock on the doors of 50-100 households suspected of drug use or pushing,” Espenido said.
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), which led the drug war with the PNP, also had this quota at the height of the drug war in 2017. Then-PDEA chief Aaron Aquino ordered their regional offices to conduct around 30 to 40 anti-drug operations per month. Espenido said the orders to them did not only come from the PNP, but from PDEA as well.
Kill for pay?
For meeting the supposed quotas, cops were rewarded by no less than the government.
Espenido said there were local government units (LGUs) that provided rewards to police for successful anti-drug operations. The cop said some LGUs awarded P100,000 for successful operations involving big-time drug pushers. As former police chief of Albuera and Ozamiz City, Espenido said he received these rewards to “fund further operations.”
Aside from the LGU incentive, there was also a P20,000 reward for every kill, said Espenido. The group of individuals “who make the kill” receive the cash reward that allegedly came from small town lotteries (STL) or jueteng lords who give money to the police regional commanders, provincial commanders, down the line.
“The STL money is remitted directly to the RD (police regional directors) or PD (provincial directors). The same goes for the so-called vigilantes. The flow of money was automatic,” the cop claimed.
Aside from STL, Espenido also alleged that intelligence funds and Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) money were also funneled through the reward funds.
“After these POGOs were able to register with government, funding was funneled downward from the level of Bong Go…. Those at the Anti-Illegal Drugs Group (AIDG) are also conversant about the funding. They can help identify the police personnel who actually received money in exchange for kills in the course of the drug war,” he added.
In a statement, Go said the allegations thrown against him were part of the plan to tarnish his reputation.
“I can categorically say, I never had any business with any POGO and on the reward system in the drug war,” the senator 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 senator in 2019.”
Espenido’s testimony matches the report of rights group Amnesty International (AI) in 2017, which revealed that a cop with the rank of Senior Police Officer 1 (Police Master Sergeant) police were paid between P8,000 to P15,00 per kill with cash that came from “headquarters.” AI’s report quoted a cop from the now-dissolved AIDG, which Espenido mentioned in his affidavit.
Rappler had also found in 2021 that some cops, whom self-confessed Davao Death Squad member Arturo Lascañas said they had worked with, were promoted in the government or had risen in the ranks of the police. These cops include Davao City chief-turned-PNP chief Bato dela Rosa, Isidro Lapeña, who served as PDEA chief, and National Police Commission commissioner Edilberto Leonardo, among others.
As for the intelligence funds, Duterte himself confirmed in August 2019 that he had given billions to the PNP for drug war intelligence work. Earlier that year, the then-president also claimed he had given funds to the police for “operations” and “intelligence work,” and his long-time aide, Go, supposedly distributed them.
Is Espenido reliable?
Espenido’s testimony came at the height of more allegations being thrown at Duterte, his family, and their allies.
Former Bureau of Customs intelligence officer Jimmy Guban claimed in one of the quad hearings that Davao City Representative Paolo Duterte, Vice President Sara Duterte’s husband Mans Carpio, and former presidential adviser Michael Yang owned the magnetic lifters that allegedly concealed the illegal drugs in Cavite in 2017.
The quad comm also probed into the drug war and POGOs in the country, which put Harry Roque, Duterte’s former spokesperson, in the hot seat due to his alleged ties to a POGO in Pampanga.
Is Espenido another witness intended to further pin down Duterte and his allies? Is he even reliable in the first place?
Espenido was a surprise witness in the ongoing probe since he used to be the drug war’s poster boy. When he first attended the House probe last July and was asked if there were human rights violations in the country, Espenido took time to respond, but eventually acknowledged there were abuses under the former administration.
But the Espenido who faced the mega-panel on Wednesday was slightly different. When asked the same question, he answered in the affirmative with conviction, and with no hesitation whatsoever. He answered the lawmakers’ queries with haste, but with some hesitation only when asked about specific details that would have directly implicated his former superiors.
His confidence might be coming from the House’s offer of immunity to him, though this has yet to be finalized by the lower chamber. Espenido also has an upcoming executive session with lawmakers, where he can spill everything he knows with less repercussions, since the discussions there would be confidential.
But even though Espenido has offered bits of information relevant to the probe into the drug war, this does not remove the fact that people were killed under his watch. – Rappler.com
