WHEN I talked to Albuera Chief of Police Chief Inspector Jovie Espenido on Wednesday after the Senate probe on Mayor Rolando Espinosa’s killing, he was evidently surprised that Kerwin Espinosa implicated him in the illegal drug operations.
“Ang daming surprise. Ako [ang] nilaglag. Ganon lang. Malakas talaga ang kalaban. Hindi na [kalaban nila ang gumagalaw kundi ang mga] kalaban ko na,” Espenido lamented.
“I am just happy that I was given the chance to talk during the hearing. It is up to the people to judge who is telling the truth,” he told me in Cebuano.
“Will you listen to him just like that?” he said of Kerwin whom he describes as a warranted person and an ‘adik adik’ for some time.
Espenido was clearly affected when General Dela Rosa said he didn’t know whom to trust anymore.
“I, myself, I’m telling you now I don’t know who to trust anymore. Like this Chief Inspector Espenido, I placed him there as chief of police of Albuera because I trusted him despite not knowing him personally,” Dela Rosa said during the Senate hearing.
Espenido, a Seventh Day Adventist, said he has always sent Dela Rosa text messages every Saturday about the Bible.
He said he keeps his trust in the Lord who is his only protector amidst all that is happening to him.
“I do not have any capacity at all to convince him [Dela Rosa]. I just hope he looks at what I have accomplished in my many years in the service,” he said.
When asked in a subsequent media interview whether he knew Rolly Dayan, he exclaimed: “Ginoo ko, por dios, por santo.
“Kung hindi magtawag ang Senate dito sa Manila, hindi ako makapunta rito.
“Sino si Dayan? Maskin siya [di ko kilala] o cellphone number [niya wala ako].
“Ganon lang kasimple ang tao magsinungaling, paniwalaan kaagad?” It seems the heavens have been kind to the Chief Inspector.
In the hearing of the Lower House on Thursday, Dayan denied three times (in the count of Congresswoman Gwen Garcia) that he ever knew Espenido.
“Hindi ko po kilala ‘yan, sir. Sa totoo lang hindi ko pa nakikita ang pagmumukha ng Espenido na ‘yan,” Dayan told the House justice committee.
For his part, Dela Rosa said: “From negative dahan-dahang bumabalik konti ‘yung doubt ko in favor of Espinido dahil nga itong testimony ni Dayan.
Si Kerwin mismo ang nagsabi na hindi niya raw makokorap si Espinido dahil may prinsipyo raw at ayaw tumanggap ng pera but still my stand is hindi ko pa ma-determine kung sino ang nagsinungaling sa kanila. I think with the help of the House, malalaman din natin ‘yan.” BEEN THERE DONE THAT/JOSEPHINE CODILLA
