LT. COL. Jovie Espenido has gotten himself in deeper trouble for coming out in the open to defend himself over his inclusion in President Duterte’s list of policemen allegedly involved in the illegal drugs trade.
“I will deal with it internally,” PNP chief Gen. Archie Gamboa told reporters in Camp Crame, adding he has previously given a “general instruction” to the suspected narco cops not to publicly discuss the issue.
Gamboa said he gave the instruction last February 7 when he met with the policemen included in the narco list in Camp Crame. All but 43 of the 357 policemen in the list were present in the meeting, including Espenido.
“Regarding Col. 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. We will deal with the issue internally,” Gamboa said.
Pressed if Espenido going out to media was insubordination, Gamboa said: “Not yet, that’s why he will be investigated.”
Espenido, one of the poster boys of the Duterte administration’s war on drugs, on Monday held a press conference to deny his supposed narcotics links and to air his sentiments over his inclusion in the narco list, including his disappointment with his senior officials for allegedly not standing up for him despite his reputation as an avid advocate against illegal drugs.
He likewise said his inclusion was a product of “intelligence failure” because it was evident that he was merely a victim of black propaganda.
Before reporters interviewed Gamboa on Wednesday, Espenido held another press conference in Bacolod City to stress he is not involved in the illegal drugs business.
Espenido also urged higher authorities to identify and investigate the people he claimed were behind his inclusion in the list of narco cops.
“Ang question ngayon is bakit (ako) nasa list, sino ang responsible person and ano ang katibayan niya na ilagay ako sa listahan. ‘Yun ang hanapin natin (The question now is why I am in the list, who is responsible and what is the basis for my inclusion in the list. We should find that out),” Espenido said.
He suspected “politics” was involved in his inclusion in the drugs list as he appealed to intelligence people to “be true to yourselves” and report the truth only.
“Sana hindi tayo naapektuhan. Kaya ako nagsasabi na napolitika kasi politika nangyari.
Nakita niyo walang kasalanan, bigyan ng kasalanan. That is politics. Sa pulis, hindi ‘yun dapat. (We should have not been affected. That’s why I said I am a victim of politics because there is politics in what happened. In the PNP, that should not happen,” he added.
Espenido implicated politicians whom he had gone against in his drive against illegal drugs.
“Hindi sana natin paniwalaan ‘yung mga kaibigan natin na mga politicians na gusto lang sirain ‘yung tao, ‘yung pulis. (We should not believe our politician-friends who only want to destroy the reputation of people, of policemen),” he said.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said the narco list was a consolidation of intelligence and other reports from law enforcement agencies — the PNP, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency and Intelligence Service of the AFP.
He admitted, though, that the list still needs verification and validation.
“Hanggang hindi nagkakaroon ng pagkakasundo ang apat na ahensyang ito, hangga’t hindi nila sinasabi ng ‘Okay na yan’, magpapatuloy ang imbestigasyon. (Until there is an agreement from these four agencies, until they say ‘it’s already okay’, the investigation will continue),” Año said.
Año said that if the policemen want to clear their names, they should go to the four agencies and present evidence to refute the information that they are involved in illegal drugs because the burden of proof is on them, not on the government.
Año challenged the policemen to show “their resolve and commitment to the anti-drug war by actions,” such as leading raids on drug dens and dismantling syndicates.
Meanwhile, Gamboa said the adjudication process for the narco policemen kicked off on Tuesday.
“I had a meeting with the director of intelligence. They have already started adjudicating.
As a matter of fact, there is an initial recommendation but of course this will be contained in the final recommendation they are going to make,” said Gamboa.
Gamboa has said the adjudication process may take one month. Yesterday, he hinted that the procedure may be completed before March 5.
“We will be having a joint command conference with the President and the AFP on March 5 and I intend to submit my recommendation on March 5,” he said.
