JOVIE IS COMING: PRO-6 confirms Espenido’s Bacolod City assignment

By: Jennifer P. Rendon

RUMORS of the reassignment of controversial Police Major Jovie Espenido to the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) are true after all.

But no, Espenido is not getting the BCPO top post, said Police Brigadier General Rene Pamuspusan, Western Visayas police chief.

“So far, there’s no definite position for him. He could be assigned as BCPO command staff,” he said.

Pamuspusan said he will let BCPO chief, Police Colonel Henry Biñas, decide where to assign Espenido.

Espenido turned over his post as Ozamis City Police Station chief on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2019.

But Pamuspusan said they received the order on Oct. 7 but Espenido’s relief from Police Regional Office (PRO)-10 and his reassignment to PRO-6 took effect Oct. 4.

He is expected to report today, Oct. 9.

Prior to Monday’s order, Pamuspusan said he got advance information from the Directorate for Personnel and Records Management (DPRM) about Espenido’s reassignment to Bacolod City.

But why Bacolod City?

“I don’t know personally,” Pamuspusan said.

Espenido’s stint in Ozamis City was highlighted by the deaths of the Parojinog clan members in several police anti-narcotics raids in 2017.

Later, the national headquarters reassigned Espenido to Iloilo City at a time when President Rodrigo Duterte repeatedly linked former Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog to illegal drugs.

But the order was recalled even before Espenido could report to Iloilo City.

In recent months, Bacolod City and Negros Occidental posted the highest number of illegal drugs operations in Western Visayas.

The value of illegal drugs seized also amounted to millions of pesos.