{"id":245242,"date":"2020-02-18T01:59:46","date_gmt":"2020-02-18T06:59:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=245242"},"modified":"2025-01-20T23:44:15","modified_gmt":"2025-01-21T04:44:15","slug":"prrd-may-change-his-mind-about-espenido","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/02\/18\/prrd-may-change-his-mind-about-espenido\/","title":{"rendered":"PRRD may change his mind about Espenido"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila on December 20, 2019. REY BANIQUET\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s position that Lt. Col. Jovie Espenido is not involved in the illegal drug trade could still change depending on intelligence information given to him, Malaca\u00f1ang said on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAng kaniyang posisyon<\/em>\u00a0(His position) on the basis of circumstances or info, intelligence info, information given to him; but if those circumstances changed, then necessarily, he will have to change his position,\u201d Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a Palace briefing.<\/p>\n

Panelo stressed that Duterte had several sources that apparently showed Espenido was \u201cclean\u201d.<\/p>\n

He reiterated that the President believes that Espenido is only a victim of \u201cblack propaganda\u201d.<\/p>\n

Interior Secretary Eduardo A\u00f1o earlier said Espenido will still have to go through the adjudication process, despite Malaca\u00f1ang\u2019s vouching for his non-inclusion in the drug watch list.<\/p>\n

Panelo, however, denied that Duterte did not trust A\u00f1o\u2019s judgment.<\/p>\n

\u201cSi<\/em>\u00a0Secretary A\u00f1o\u00a0ay mayroon siyang sariling pag-aaral na ginagawa; ganoon din ang<\/em>\u00a0PDEA.\u00a0Si Presidente mayroon din. Kung<\/em>\u00a0on the basis of the study of the President,\u00a0para sa kaniya<\/em>\u00a0clean si Col. Espenido,\u00a0iyon ang sasabihin niya<\/em>\u00a0(Secretary A\u00f1o conducted his own study; as well as the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. The President also did. If on the basis of the President, Col. Espenido is clean, that is what he will say),\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

He said Duterte would \u201calways rely on the presumption of innocence\u201d unless evidence shows the opposite.<\/p>\n

While A\u00f1o confirmed that Espenido was on the drugs watch list, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, Gen.<\/p>\n

buy motilium online https:\/\/drbrassie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/motilium.html<\/a> no prescription pharmacy <\/div>\n

Archie Gamboa was mum on the matter, saying his agency would conduct its own investigation of their own people.<\/p>\n

The PNP is expected to finish adjudication of over 357 police personnel in a month as part of its internal cleansing efforts against errant cops.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Panelo said he believes that the aggressive crackdown on illegal drugs is still a success despite Espenido\u2019s inclusion in the drugs watch list.<\/p>\n

\u201cStill a success,\u201d Panelo said, enumerating the drug war\u2019s various accomplishments such as the dismantling of drug factories, the arrest of drug syndicates, and rehabilitation of drug dependents, among others.<\/p>\n

buy oseltamivir online https:\/\/drbrassie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/oseltamivir.html<\/a> no prescription pharmacy <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Last week, Panelo said Duterte still trusts Espenido despite the latter\u2019s supposed inclusion on the government\u2019s drug watch list.<\/p>\n

buy ampicillin online https:\/\/drbrassie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/ampicillin.html<\/a> no prescription pharmacy <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cLt. Col. Espenido continues to enjoy the trust and confidence of the President. PRRD believes that the reports of his alleged involvement in prohibited drugs are untrue,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

Espenido\u2019s performance big factor<\/strong><\/p>\n

A\u00f1o on Monday said Espenido\u2019s records in fighting illegal drugs during his term as chief of police of Ozamiz City would serve in his favor.<\/p>\n

\u201cMalaking<\/em>\u00a0factor\u00a0yung ginawa ni<\/em>\u00a0Espenido\u00a0doon sa<\/em>\u00a0Ozamis\u00a0para sa usaping<\/em>\u00a0adjudication\u00a0at<\/em>\u00a0validation\u00a0niya<\/em>\u00a0[What Espenido did in Ozamis was a great factor for his adjudication and validation],” A\u00f1o said in a press briefing.<\/p>\n

A\u00f1o, however, clarified that he was not clearing the name of Espenido.<\/p>\n

“I’m just saying my observation based on actual events. I can say\u00a0na ako<\/em>\u00a0I\u2019m giving the benefit of the doubt to Espenido (I can say that I’m giving benefit of the doubt to Espenido),” he said.<\/p>\n

Last week, A\u00f1o confirmed Espenido\u2019s inclusion on the drug watchlist, saying it is challenge for him.<\/p>\n

He added that Espenido\u2019s performance could also be the basis of Duterte\u2019s statement saying that he is \u201cclean\u201d and that the allegations against him are \u201cuntrue.\u201d<\/p>\n

A\u00f1o said the validation is an opportunity for Espenido and other policemen to prove their innocence.<\/p>\n

Espenido made headlines for leading the July 2017 anti-drug operation where suspected narco-politician, city mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Sr., and 15 others were killed.<\/p>\n

He was also the police chief of Albuera, Leyte when its former mayor Rolando Espinosa, who was detained as a drug suspect, was shot dead inside the sub-provincial jail in Baybay City in 2016.<\/p>\n

In October 2019, Espenido was promoted as deputy for operations and drug enforcement unit chief of the Bacolod City Police Office.<\/p>\n

But on February 5, Espenido was relieved from his post and transferred to Gamboa’s office.\u00a0(With reports from Lloyd Caliwan\/PNA)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s position that Lt. Col. Jovie Espenido is not involved in the illegal drug trade could still …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":240525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245242"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":286377,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245242\/revisions\/286377"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}