Loot invites Espenido to be town police chief

He may be in President Rodrigo Duterte’s drugs list, but retired police general Vicente Loot, incumbent mayor of Daanbantayan town, is not afraid of Chief Insp. Jovie Espenido.

In fact, Loot invited Espenido to accept a position as police chief of Daanbantayan.

“I would be glad to work with him. It would be good if he will be assigned in Daanbantayan so he can help me. I know him as a person. He stands his ground. He is an upright man,” he said in a phone interview.

In Espenido’s former assignments as police chief, he was credited for the neutralization of Albuera, Leyte mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. and Ozamiz City Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog and several members of his family. Espinosa and the Parojinogs are in the President’s list of drug lords and protectors.

Espinosa was arrested and detained at the Baybay City Sub-Provincial Jail where he was gunned down during a raid by operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

Mayor Parojinog and members of his family, including his daughter, Vice Mayor Nova Princess Parojinog, on the other hand, were subjects of a search warrant. Their houses were raided by the police, resulting to their deaths.

Loot on Monday said he sent a text message to Espenido, relaying to the latter his intent to have the controversial policeman in Daanbantayan as its police chief.

The text message was sent last August 29, but until now Loot did not get any response from Espenido.

“Wala man siyay reply. Taas-taas ra ba to. (He did not reply. The text message I sent to him was long),” he said.

“Mo-text siya nako usahay, pero pulos man (bible) verses. (He would sometimes text me, but they are all bible verses),” he added.

During the National Heroes’ Day celebration last Aug. 28, President Duterte announced that Espenido would be reassigned to Iloilo City.

Five days later, Chief Supt. Cesar Hawthorne Binag, Western Visayas police director, announced that Espenido’s assignment to Iloilo City was cancelled and that the latter would remain with the northern Mindanao regional police.

Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa later revealed that it was President Duterte who ordered the cancellation of the order transferring Espenido to Iloilo City.

Dela Rosa said people from Ozamiz were “demoralized” and were planning to hold a people power in order to keep Espenido in their place.

Clear

Loot, one of the police generals who were publicly identified as drug coddlers by President Duterte, said Espenido can help him clear his name.

“He knows how it feels to be persecuted. I don’t know how to defend myself because I don’t know what is the exact accusation against me. If given the opportunity to dig deeper, he (Espenido) will find out what really is the cause of the issue against me,” he said.

When he was assigned in Eastern Visayas, first as DRDO (August-October 2010) and later as deputy regional director for administration (November 2010-December 26, 2012), Loot said there were people, including fellow policemen, who get mad at him for fighting illegal drugs and other crimes.

“Soon after I left the region, they fabricated derogatory stories against me,” Loot said.

He said he welcomes any investigation against him if only to prove his innocence.

Currently the mayor of Daanbantayan town, Loot said he is doing his best to fight illegal drugs.

His priority is strengthening the family.

“I want to give more heart to the campaign. We cannot solve the problem by merely relying on the police. This (illegal drugs) is not just a police problem but a socio-economic concern whose root cause can be traced to the way we handle families,” Loot said.

“My concern now is strengthening the families to insulate them from the influence of illegal drugs,” he added.