MANILA, Philippines — Police Lt. Col. Jovie Espenido’s performance in fighting illegal drugs during his stint as chief of police of Ozamiz City could help him clear his name from alleged involvement in illegal drugs, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said Monday.

Año earlier confirmed that Espenido was among the 357 cops included in the drugs watchlist of President Rodrigo Duterte.

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READ: DILG confirms drug war enforcer Espenido on Duterte narcolist

He acknowledged that while it would be a “challenge” for Espenido to prove himself innocent of involvement in illegal drugs, his performance in fighting illegal drugs is a big factor that will “serve in his favor” during validation of the drug watchlist.

Año added that because of Espenido’s stint as Ozamiz police chief, he is giving him “the benefit of the doubt.”

“I’m not clearing Espenido. I’m just saying my observation based on actual events. I can say na, ako I’m giving the benefit of the doubt to Espenido because of what he has shown when he was chief of Ozamiz police,” the DILG chief said in a press conference.

“Malaking factor yung ginawa ni Espenido doon sa Ozamiz para sa usaping adjudication at validation niya,” he added.

(His performance in Ozamiz is a big factor in terms of adjudication and validation.)

He added that Espenido’s performance could also be the basis of President Duterte’s statement saying that he is “clean” from involvement in illegal drugs as allegations against him are “untrue.”

READ: Duterte believes Espenido ‘clean,’ involvement in illegal drugs ‘untrue’ – Panelo

The DILG chief explained that the drugs watchlist that included Espenido was formed in December 2016, which was a consolidation of reports from different agencies such as the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

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He believes that Espenido could have already been cleared from the said watchlist but blamed the slow validation process of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD).

“‘Yung mga nakaraang validation, siguro dapat na-clear na siya (Espenido). I don’t know sa ICAD bakit naging mabagal yung kanilang validation,” Año said.

(In the past validation, maybe he should have been cleared. I don’t know why his validation with ICAD was slow.)

Espenido became controversial because of his hard-hitting campaign against illegal drugs, particularly after mayors allegedly involved in illegal drugs were slain under his watch.

In 2016, Espenido was the police chief of Albuera, Leyte province, when Rolando Espinosa Jr., then the town’s mayor who was detained for being an alleged drug lord, was shot dead in his jail cell by policemen who claimed they were serving a search warrant.

Espenido was then transferred to Ozamiz in 2017. In July that year, the city’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group led the police operation that resulted in the killing of Ozamiz Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Sr. and 14 others in a raid on the mayor’s home.

In October 2019, Espenido was transferred to Bacolod City. He was recently relieved from this post due to undisclosed reasons.

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