Espenido blames politicians for inclusion in drug list

Police Lieutenant Colonel Jovie Espenido on Wednesday said "greedy" politicians are behind his inclusion in the government list of personalities involved in the illegal drug trade.

In his first public appearance since his inclusion in the drug list hit the headlines, Espenido said he had stepped on many people including politicians in the performance of his duty as a law enforcer.

"I cannot really pinpoint. But one thing I can tell you — greedy, a greedy kind of person. Number one, politicians talaga," he said in a press conference in Bacolod City.

"'Yun nga, 'yung nabangga natin sa trabaho since PO1 pa ako."

Espenido, a favored cop by President Rodrigo Duterte, appealed to the Philippine National Police (PNP) not to believe politicians who feed them wrong information as he questioned the credibility of the sources of the drug watchlist.

"Hindi sana paniwalaan natin 'yung mga kaibigan natin na politicians na gusto lang siraan ang pulis,” he said.

Espenido earlier said his inclusion in the drug watchlist was a result of "failure of intelligence" on the part of the PNP. He said he is hoping the PNP will change its process of information gathering.

PNP chief General Archie Francisco Gamboa, at a separate press briefing, said he will deal with Espenido regarding his claims internally.

"Regarding [Police Lieutenant] Colonel Espenido, leave it to us. It's purely an internal issue, I will deal with Espenido squarely as the chief PNP and he being a member of the PNP," Gamboa said at a press briefing.

According to Gamboa, it is a general instruction for the policemen included in the drug watchlist to remain silent on the issue pending validation.

"Sabi ko nga we're coming up with a social media protocols for PNP personnel because you have to resort to our own internal mechanism. So why Espenido? That's why I will deal with him internally," Gamboa said.

Espenido led the operation against the Parojinog clan in 2017 in Ozamiz City, which resulted in the death of Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Sr. and his other relatives.

Duterte has accused the Parojinogs of involvement in the illegal drug trade.

Prior to that bloody drug operation, Espenido was the police chief of Albuera, Leyte when Mayor Rolando Espinosa, a suspected drug lord, was killed inside his detention cell in Baybay City in 2016.

Despite his inclusion in the drug list, Malacañang said Espenido still has Duterte's trust. —KBK/RSJ, GMA News