President Rodrigo Duterte clarified on Tuesday that he never ordered that Chief Insp. Jovie Espenido be named the new chief of police of Iloilo City because he knew that he was not of sufficient rank for the assignment.

But Espenido, he said, could have been a station commander.

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“I just said: ‘Do you want to be assigned there?’ Maybe, I said, there he could be police station commander,” he told reporters.

He could assign Espenido anywhere – but not as police chief, he added.

Espenido’s transfer to Iloilo has since been scrapped and he would remain with the Northern Mindanao Regional Police Office.

Espenido was the chief of police in Ozamiz City during the anti-drug raid on the Parojinog family compound that led to the killing of Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Sr. and 14 others.

He was also the chief of the Albuera Municipal Police Station in Leyte when police raided the jail cell of Mayor Rolando Espinosa, who was held on drug charges, and killed him in a supposed shootout.

Earlier, Duterte said he would transfer Espenido to Iloilo City, where Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog had been tagged as a drug lord protector by the President. Mabilog denied the allegation.

Asked if Mabilog would want to clear his name before him, Duterte said that he was not interested to listen to what he had to say.

“I do not care what their explanation is,” he said.

Earlier on Tuesday, presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said Duterte “was not open to a conversation with Mabilog.”

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The President also mocked Mabilog’s offer of a P1 million reward for information leading to the arrest of drug suspects.

“Bobolahin pa ako ng putangina niya,” he said.

(“The son of a bitch is trying to fool me.”) /atm

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