Espenido confirms quota, reward system for drug kills
Former Philippine National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa ordered the killing of suspected drug personalities, including Ozamiz Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog and his family and Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa, during the Duterte administration’s bloody war against drugs, a police colonel told members of the House Quad Committee on Wednesday.
Police Col. Jovie Espenido, a former police chief of Albuera, said Dela Rosa ordered the elimination of illegal drugs “by all means” necessary.
Espenido recalled Dela Rosa’s directive: “The only instruction is for you to help me, Jovie, and then President Duterte, about this war against illegal drugs, so you should help me, I will assign you as the chief of police of Albuera, so you should get rid of the drugs in Albuera.”
“Your Honor, Mr. Chair, there is only one general word given, and we all know that word only has one meaning. When we say eradicate, that already involves killing. That is very very obvious for us,” he added.
Espenido also confirmed the existence of a quota and reward system for drug kills – claiming that the funding came from intelligence funds and POGO money “funneled downward from the level” of Senator Bong Go.
“Even intelligence funds were used in the drug war. POGO money was also used. After these POGOs were able to register with the government, funding was funneled downward from the level of Bong Go,” he said in his affidavit.
“I confirm that there was a quota and reward system in the implementation of the war on drugs during the previous administration. I truly wanted to implement it without causing deaths. When the leadership imposed a quota of 50-100 per day, we only took it to mean that we had to knock on the doors of 50-100 households suspected of drug use or pushing.”
“I know that there was a reward of P20,000 per kill in the drug war. The funding came from operators of the Small Town Lottery (STL), or jueteng lords who give money to the police regional commanders, provincial commanders, down the line. The group or individuals who make the kill receive the money,” he added.
Espenido said that some of the “bagmen” are still alive and that he can talk to them to testify in the Quad Committee probe.
“Quite a few are in hiding. I also know an intelligence officer who can disclose details of the drug war,” he said.
In a message to GMA News Online, Dela Rosa denied the accusations raised against him.
“What is wrong with neutralizing drugs? You have to neutralize the drug problem. Did I say they should kill people? I did not order him to kill people,” the senator said.
“Use all legal means to eradicate the drug problem. That is why he has been assigned there – to eradicate the drug problem. I never said I assigned him there so he can kill all the drug addicts, the drug pushers. It’s your job to clean up your area of responsibility,” Dela Rosa added.
For his part, former presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said there is still no evidence that former President Rodrigo Duterte issued kill orders during his administration’s war against drugs.
“Espenido is saying that the former President told him to clean the Albuera of drugs which means to dismantle the drug syndicate. He also said he understood the word mawala as including mamatay, he didn’t say pumatay,” Panelo said.
“It [just] means if their lives are endangered, they can neutralize the suspect which is allowed by law under justifying circumstances,” he said.
During the hearing, Manila Rep. Joel Chua sought to clarify Espenido’s statement: “When you are told to disappear, that includes killing people?”
To which Espenido replied: “By all means, your Honor, exactly.”
Espenido said he was able to dismantle the Kerwin Espinosa drug syndicate but he was punished with a one-month suspension and was even accused of taking money from the drug trade.
“I believe Chief Dela Rosa was involved in the dismissal of the cases that I built up against Kerwin Espinosa, including the burying of the cases that I was building against his police protectors or coddlers who have been receiving money from him,” he said.
“I personally reported to PNP Chief dela Rosa at his office in Camp Crame to submit my accomplishment report in my police operations in Albuera. In that meeting, however, he told me that Kerwin Espinosa had alleged that I was on the take from his group for P20,000 per month. I told him I was ready to resign if there was evidence that I received money from Kerwin as there is no truth as to this, and I was eventually cleared by Kerwin who said I was the only one who did not get money from him and his group in one of the Senate Hearings where he was invited as a resource speaker,” Espenido said.
In his affidavit, Espenido said Dela Rosa ordered him to “dismantle the Parojinog drug operations by all means necessary.”
“In police language, it included neutralization or elimination of the target. Moments after my phone conversation with Chief Bato, he issued a formal order to cause my transfer to Ozamiz,” the police colonel said.
During the July 2017 operation against the Parojinogs, the mayor, his wife and 14 others were killed.
“Chief Bato and President Duterte arrived shortly thereafter to congratulate our unit for the successful raid. The Parojinogs had been neutralized. We were even awarded a plaque of recognition,” Espenido added.
At the Senate, Justice Secretary Jesus Remulla said while the International Criminal Court has no jurisdiction in the Philippines, they will not be prevented from conducting their probe into the past administration’s war on drugs.
Remulla said the ICC can talk to the witnesses through video conferencing.
In 2019, the Philippines, under then-President Duterte, withdrew from the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, after the tribunal began a probe into his bloody drug war, followed by a formal inquiry in September 2021.
But the Hague-based tribunal said it retains jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed while the Philippines was a member from November 2011.
Duterte carried out his war on drugs from 2016 to 2022. Under this campaign, law enforcement authorities pursued suspected drug dealers and users, several of whom ended up dead by way of summary executions.
Government records showed more than 6,000 have been killed in anti-drug operations since June 2016 until May 31, 2022, a month before Duterte’s term ended, but human rights groups estimated the death toll may be as high as 30,000.
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