CAGAYAN DE ORO -- A ranking police officer is open to joining the mass leave of absence by members of the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) alumni association if the government would fail to act promptly on the encounter between Moro rebels and law enforcers that resulted in the death of 44 police commandos in Maguindanao.
Senior Inspector Ariel Philip Pontillas, a PNP alumnus and the current Macasandig police station chief, told reporters Friday he will stand by with the decision of the PNPA Alumni Association Incorporated (PNPAAAI) should the five-day leave in protest for the death of the elite team of police push through.
Of the Special Action Force (SAF) members who were killed in the Mamasapano, Maguindanao incident on January 25, seven of them were PNPA graduates.
“We are waiting for any legal instruction for that. We will support all actions or moves nga nagpakita nga we care. As long as it is legal, I will support [it],” added Pontillas, a former SAF member.
But before the PNPA alumni leadership will make that decision, he said they must consider all options and its implications.
“I-discern gyud na’g maayo, if it’s legal, if it’s good. Kung makita sa tanang members nga it’s good, siguro buhaton na (There must be discernment. If the members will see that it’s good, then maybe it needs to be done),” he said.
But the absence of the PNPA alumni who are now holding top designations within the PNP hierarchy, especially those who are deployed on the ground as precinct commanders and other vital positions, on the field could have an impact on the enforcement of law, he added.
If the mass leave would push through, Pontillas pointed out, “maapektuhan ang pagserbisyo sa katawhan (it could affect the service to the public).”
“We are praying nga dili mahitabo ingon ana (that it wouldn’t come to that),” he said, referring to the possible breakdown of law and order if the ranking police officers would make good on their promise to momentarily leave their posts.
In news articles that recently came out, PNPAAAI chair Tomas Rentoy III has urged the 4,000-strong PNP graduates to go on mass leave to pressure the government to serve justice to the slain SAF members.
The group has also threatened to file criminal charges against those responsible for ordering the 44 SAF troopers to enter an area with significant Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) presence to serve the warrant of arrest for alleged terrorists Zulkifli bin Hir, alias “Marwan,” and Abdul Basit Usman, considered as high-value targets by the US government.
Meanwhile, more than a hundred officers from the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office (Cocpo) attended the solidarity mass officiated by several priests at the Saint Augustine Metropolitan Cathedral on Friday.
Fighting back tears, Chief Inspector Lemuel Gonda, Cocpo's chief of operations and plans branch and also an ex-SAF trooper, in his message hopes his comrades will be given justice.
“We hunger not just for justice but for peace in Mindanao,” Gonda told the crowd.
In a solidarity statement released by the Cagayan de Oro Press Club (COPC) to the media, the group said: “We will remember that the SAF commandos sacrificed their lives in order to protect us and our children from bombers, the enemies of reason, and democratic principles that have enough room for all regardless of culture, tradition, and even beliefs, except lawlessness and barbarism. They died trying to protect the innocent against those who want to blow to pieces all those who embrace democracy.”
The club has also appealed to both the government and the MILF decision-makers “to be guided by reason, talk about sensible matters for our common dream for peace will only come if we are able to identify and are clear about the root cause of the Mindanao conflict.”
“Unless we identify what the real problem is, we are afraid everything that we do now will bring us nothing but temporary relief, never a permanent solution,” it added. (Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro/Sunnex)