Lt. Col. Jovie Espenido alleged Wednesday that former Philippine National Police (PNP) Senator Ronald Dela Rosa ordered him to kill people linked to illegal drug activities in Albuera, Leyte under the Duterte administration.

Espenido said this during a House inquiry.

During the hearing, Espenido said that when he was assigned as the chief of police in Albuera, Leyte, one of his main duties was to disband illegal drug groups of Kerwin Espinosa who was a suspected drug lord.

Espenido told lawmakers that Dela Rosa, who is now a senator, called him up to ask him to help “remove” drug personalities in Albuera.

“His (Dela Rosa) instruction is ‘Help me, Jovie, and President (Rodrigo) Duterte about this war against illegal drugs. So you should do your best. You will be assigned as the chief of police of Albuera, so drugs should be removed in Albera,” Espendo said in response to a question by Manila Rep. Joel Chua.

“Did they say how to remove them?” Chua asked.

“There one word that is said, which all us know the meaning of. When they say 'remove' that includes killing. That is very obvious for us,” Espenido said.

“When they say remove, do they mean to kill someone?” Chua pressed.

“By all means,” Espenido replied.

He told lawmakers that upon assuming as chief of police in Abuera, it took him around 18 days to “dismantle” Espinosa’s groups.

According to Espenido, De la Rosa and Duterte assigned him to Ozamis in 2016 to be “eliminated” because he had been placed in the drug watch list after he dismantled Espinosa’s groups.

“Your honor, Mr. Chair, there are two things I understand. Number one, they gave me an instruction so I would be killed, because they were mad about me being able to disband Kerwin Espinosa’s group," he said.

Why (do) I say this? Kerwin Espinosa is one of their men. I say he is one of their men because they did not let me handle him. When in fact, your honor, Mr. Chair. Kerwin Espinosa filed a complaint against me in the Ombudsman while the AIDG (PNP Anti-Illegal Drug Group) handled him,” Because they saw that Espinosa, one of their men, was disbanded, they sent Espenido to Ozamis to die,” he added.

In an affidavit given to the House of Representatives, he said Dela Rosa was possibly involved in dismissing the cases he had built against the police who were protecting Espinosa and receiving money from him.

He said that instead of giving him “unhampered” access to Espinosa, the former PNP chief turned him over to the AIDG instead of his unit which was investigating his cases. Jaspearl Tan/DMS