‘BE READY TO DIE!’
ILOILO City – Policemen of Maasin, Iloilo who were sacked after rebels raided their police station could find themselves squaring off with the Maute terrorist group in Marawi City. Sacked Maasin cops may be deployed to Marawi – ‘Bato’
The Philippine National Police (PNP) is no place for cowards, the organization’s chief General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa told the policemen during an i nspection of the Maasin police station yesterday. He gave them a dressing-down.
“I am very disappointed. They were nine on duty here ( when the rebels attacked) but none of them fired a single bullet,” lamented Dela Rosa.
The Maasin police station has a new set of police force. Its former police officers, however, were made to face Dela Rosa yesterday.
He reminded them and all other police stations in the
country of their responsibility to “fight till death once attacked.”
Dela Rosa said he may reassign the sacked officers to Marawi City where government forces are battling Islamic terrorists for a month now.
“I need personnel in Marawi,” he said.
The New People’s Army raid on June 18 should have been a chance for the Maasin policemen to prove their worth, said Dela Rosa, but they showed unwillingness to fight.
“Once you take oath as a police officer you must be ready to die anytime.
(Why be a cop if you’re a coward),” he said.
The police officers explained they failed to offer resistance because they were disarmed and outnumbered by some 40 to 50 rebels.
( even i f outnumbered) they should have put up a fight, insisted Dela Rosa.
The Maasin police station was attacked nearly three weeks after the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) alerted it and 14 other police stations that rebels were planning to conduct raids.
Dela Rosa said a complaint for “serious neglect of duty” would be filed against the Maasin police officers.
Dela Rosa, noting t he substandard Maasin police station, said he was willing to give funds for the construction of a standard police station.
He also urged residents of Maasin for “mutual cooperation and protection” with the police, be vigilant and be not afraid of rebels.
The daring, broad daylight rebel incursion was swift. Within 15 minutes beginning around 10: 30 a. m., the insurgents shanghaied M16 rifles, Glock .9mm pistols, handheld radios and their base, laptops, money, police uniforms, and jewelry. The rebels also used the police station’s patrol car to flee. They were long gone when troops from the Regional Public Safety Battalion (RPSB) of the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) reached the police station.
Witnesses said the rebels fled toward the town of Alimodian.
Minutes after the raid, Ka Julio Montana, spokesperson of the NPA-Panay (Coronacion Ch i v a “Waling- Waling” Command) issued a statement praising the NPA- Napoleon Tumagtang Command for the successful operation.
Not a gun a fired, noted Montana.
Early this month, the IPPO warned police stations i n Maasin, San Joaquin, Guimbal, Miag- ao, Tubungan, Igbaras, Alimodian, Leon, Calinog, Bingawan, Badiangan, San Enrique, Passi City, San Rafael, and Lemery that they were targets of NPA offensives./