Espenido: I can stop Cebu drugs

KNOWLEDGE OF PEOPLE, PLACE AN ADVANTAGE

The controversial chief of the Ozamiz City police is confident he can solve the drug problem in Cebu if he is assigned here.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Chief Insp. Juvie Espenido said his knowledge of the place and its people will be an advantage in addressing the problem of illegal drugs.

“Number 1, Cebu man ko nga product so dali ra nato masulbad. Samot nga naay Ginoo nga mutabang kanato ug nakaila na ta og kinsa na sila. Si kuan, si kuan, si kuan… so nakaila nata. Walay problema,” Espenido said.

He, however, refused to answer questions relating to self-confessed drug lord Franz Sabalones and alleged drug lord Peter Lim. He said he is willing to be assigned here if opportunity allows.

“Kung tugutan lang nga dinhi ko ibutang, ako nang gihangop nga diri ko ma-assign,” Espenido said.

“Bisa’g asa basta naay challenge ba,” he added.

Espenido was the chief of police of Albuera, Leyte whose mayor, Rolando Espinosa Sr., the father of Kerwin Espinosa, the alleged top drug lord in Eastern Visayas, was killed while being detained at Baybay City Provincial Jail.

Personnel of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) killed Espinosa after the mayor allegedly resisted arrest.

Espenido also headed the team that served the search warrants to the Parojinog family last July 30, which resulted in a shootout and death of at least 16 personalities including Ozamiz Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog and his wife.

Parojinog was among the more than 160 officials President Rodrigo Duterte linked to drugs.

At a Seventh-day Adventist church where he spoke yesterday, Espenido said he underwent fasting to ask guidance from God days before they served the warrants on the Parojinogs.

He said the Parojinogs have not been easy targets. There were reportedly attempts to serve warrants against the family in the past but the Parojinogs reportedly always knew what was coming.

STOP KILLINGS

Meanwhile, Espinido agrees with the call of Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle for government to stop killings in line with Duterte's drug war.

He said life should be valued before anything else but said, too, that if the life of the police is put on the line, the trigger should be pulled.

“Dapat i-stop. Dili man pud na puwede. Ako, prolife ta… kung kinahanglan or kung necessary gyod pero kung unnecessary, dili na puwede,” he said.

Still, he said there are other ways to stop illegal drugs.

“Pinaagi sa awareness, mahibalo ang tawo. Once mahibalo ang tawo, mulikay na ang tawo. Ato nang paninguhaon,” he said.