Ozamiz mayor, 11 others killed in drug raid
Lacson finds ops vs Parojinog more credible than raid on Espinosa’s cell
Police killed Ozamiz City Mayor Reynaldo “Aldong” Parojinog Sr. and 11 others, including his wife and his brother who is an incumbent provincial board member, in a series of raids conducted on the houses and other properties of the influential political clan in Misamis Occidental before dawn yesterday.
Chief Superintendent Timoeteo Pacleb, director of the North-
ern Mindanao regional police, said one of the operations also resulted in the arrest of Ozamiz City Vice Mayor Nova Parojinog whose house is only a few meters away from his father’s.
The vice mayor had previously went to Camp Crame in Quezon City to clear her name on President Duterte’s revelation that she and her relatives were involved in the proliferation of illegal drugs in Misamis Occidental.
At least six search warrants were served by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and operatives of the Ozamiz City police for the properties of the Parojinogs around 2:30 a.m. Sunday.
“Our personnel were met with gunfire when they were about to enter the house of the Mayor. This led to the gunfight,” said Pacleb.
Pacleb said that aside from Parojinog and his wife Susan, also killed were Parojinog’s brother Misamis Occidental Octavio Parojinog and some of their security personnel, some of whom belonged to the Barangay Peacekeeping Action Team (BPAT).
Another subject of the search warrant, City Councilor Reynaldo Parojinog Jr., was not in his house when the operation was conducted.
Pacleb said his men were able to confiscate various firearms and illegal drugs during the separate operations. He said an inventory of the seized items was ongoing.
The Parojinogs were earlier mentioned by the President as included in the list of narco-politicians in the country. The clan, however, denied this.
PNP action expected Jeffrey James Ocang, legal officer of the Ozamiz City government, said the Parojinogs have been expecting that they would be targeted by liquidation months before.
The glaring indication, he said, is the repeated bold statements of Ozamiz City police director Chief Insp. Jovie Espenido who happened to be the chief of police of Albuera when several raids were conducted in the house of the Espinosas.
“They have been expecting that they would be liquidated because from the interviews of the local police chief (Espenido), he had been repeatedly saying that it was only a matter of time before he and his ‘sweetheart’ would encounter,” said Ocang, adding that the sweetheart refers to the vice mayor.
“Every time he would arrest illegal drug suspects, he was repeatedly saying that he is getting closer to the head and he would tag the Parojinog family,” he added.
Palace In Malacañang, Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella referred to the latest police raid in Ozamiz City as part of the government’s intensified crackdown against illegal drugs.
“The Administration vowed to intensify the drug campaign,” Abella said in a statement. “The Parojinogs, if you would recall, are included in PRRD’s list of personalities involved in the illegal drug trade,” he added.
Abella said authorities are expected to release updates as soon as they become available.
Just last week, President Duterte vowed that his drug crackdown will be unrelenting despite criticisms on soaring death toll and alleged rights abuses. He said the fight will not stop until the drug pushers would cease “because the alternatives are either jail or hell.”
No encounter
Ocang also disputed the claim of the police that the cops were greeted with gunfire when they were about to enter the houses of Mayor Parojinog and his daughter Nova.
“As far as we are concerned, there was no exchange of gunfire and the explosion was heard after the burst of gunfire. The gunshots were heard in the City proper,” said Ocang in an interview over GMA 7’s Balitanghali.
Pacleb, however, said that one of their personnel was wounded during the operation. The injury, however, was classified as minor.
But Ocang said the injury of the policeman could be a friendly fire or a result of the shrapnel from grenade explosion.
The grenade explosion, he said, was possibly hurled by cops to scare away the people who were allegedly trying to prevent the cops from planting evidence.
Ocang said he was able to talk to Nova Parojinog and she told him that the cops cut off the lines of the CCTV cameras before the actual operation.
The vice mayor further claimed that some policemen also took the key of her lock before the actual serving of the search warrant. An undetermined amount of shabu was later found in the locker.
“She was also hit several times by an officer and the proof is that she has injuries in her mouth,” said Ocang.
Aside from cutting off the CCTV lines, some of the policemen allegedly took the boxes containing the hard drive.
Law enforcers also raided City Councilor Ricardo Parojinog’s house in Barangay Bagakay where the raiding team seized assorted firearms and ammunition including a shotgun, three rocketpropelled grenade launchers, M79 rifles, two hand grenades and eight M79 bullets. Also taken were alleged illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia. He was away during the raid.
The house of the mayor’s son, “Dodo,” was also raided.
In a radio interview, Superintendent Lemuel Gonda, spokesperson of the Philippine National Police-10, said the raiding team tried to serve search warrants on the mayor’s residence.
Sources in Ozamiz said the power around the mayor’s residence was cut off during the raid.
Lacson: They were capable of shooting it out with cops
Unlike the case of Albuerra, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa – who was killed in his jail cell, Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson said the circumstances surrounding the death of Parojinog, his wife and 10 other persons were more credible.
“Whatever are the circumstances of the deaths, at least this time, the mayor and the others killed were not under detention in a government facility,” Lacson said when sought for comment on the Parojinogs.
“They were reportedly in the mayor’s farm or residence and capable of shooting it out with the authorities,” Lacson further said in a text message.
Lacson, head of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, earlier criticized the Department of Justice (DOJ) for downgrading the murder charges against Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Region 8 chief Supt. Marvin Marcos to homicide, contradicting his panel’s findings the death of Espinosa and a fellow inmate, Raul Yap, were premeditated.
Marcos and his men claimed Espinosa and Yap resisted arrest when they conducted a pre-dawn raid inside the Baybay City Provincial jail. Marcos claimed they were forced to retaliate and shoot them to death when they resisted while they tried serving an arrest warrant against them.
A former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, Lacson also earlier berated PNP Chief Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa for bringing back Marcos and 18 other cops involved in the Espinosa case back to duty.