HOW Police Supt. Maria Christina Nobleza and bomb expert/terrorist group member Renierlo Dongon met and fell in love is one for a “telenovela.” The police officer, who is legally married to a senior police officer deployed as police attache to Pakistan, was previously assigned with the elite Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) under the Office of the President during the Aquino administration.
Dongon, 29, was detained in Camp Crame for bomb and gun possession several years ago and Nobleza, 49, was one of those who interrogated him. Dongon, who has many aliases, was released following the dismissal of his case due to technicality. But he was placed under police watch due to his affiliation with the terrorist group.
One of his sisters married a founder of the Abu Sayyaf Group, Khadaffy Janjalani. When Janjalani was killed, his wife married Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan, who was the subject of an operation in Mamasapano in Maguindanao that resulted to the death of 44 members of the Special Action Force (SAF) more than two years ago. Dongon’s other sisters married top leaders of the Abu Sayyaf and Rajah Solaiman Movement, another terrorist group in Mindanao.
When PAOCC was disbanded, Nobleza was transferred to an anti-illegal drug unit. But when the Philippine National Police (PNP) leadership dissolved the unit last January, Nobleza returned to her original unit, the Police Crime Laboratory and was assigned deputy chief in Region 11 in Davao City.
Nobleza’s love affair with Dongon was an “open secret” to then PAOCC members. PNP chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa also knew about it when he was the deputy chief of the Intelligence Group (IG). The IG was about to investigate Nobleza and Dongon’s link but did not pursue it because the PNP lost control and supervision over the PAOCC, which then reported directly to the President.
Last Sunday, Nobleza and Dongon, together with the latter’s mother and a minor were arrested in Clarin, Bohol after they failed to stop in a checkpoint mounted following the clash between government troops and the remnants of the Abu Sayyaf Group that escaped in the Inabanga encounter. They were suspected to be on a “mission” to rescue the remaining ASG members.
Confiscated from their possession were guns of various calibers, bomb paraphernalia like C-4 explosive device and detonating chords, blasting caps, cellular phones and food stuff. The duo were brought to Camp Crame yesterday where they will be temporarily detained pending the filing of charges.
Well, we can’t blame Nobleza for falling in love with an “enemy of the state.” That’s the “frailties of a woman,” as what jailed senator Leila de Lima described herself when she fell in love with her driver-bodyguard, Ronnie Dayan.
Kamo bay mahigugma, lalim ba?