Duterte to Espenido: Go there in Bacolod, you are ”free to kill”

October 17, 2019

President Rodrigo Duterte said on Thursday that he assigned newly promoted Police Lt. Col. Jovie Espenido in Bacolod City to "kill" those involved in illegal drugs.

"Bacolod is badly hit now and I place Espenido there," said Duterte in a speech during the 45th Philippine Business Conference and Expo in Manila Hotel.

"I said, 'Go there and you are free to kill everybody.' Son of a b****. 'Go, start killing them'," he said.

Duterte said he would be ready to be put in jail with Espenido.

Prior to his new assignment in Bacolod, Espenido was assigned in Albuera, Leyte where then Mayor Rolando Espinosa, an alleged drug lord, was killed while in detention in November 2016.

After Albuera, he was transferred to Ozamiz City where 15 people, including then incumbent Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog, were killed in anti-drug operations in 2017. Celerina Monte/DMS