Cop refuses Mindanao assignment, resigns

A police officer resigned from service rather than be deployed to Lanao del Norte in northern Mindanao.

Police Officer 3 Aldwin Osorio was supposed to be part of the 329 policemen from Central Visayas who were sent to the province to help maintain peace and order during the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) plebiscite yesterday.

Osorio, who was assigned in the Regional Mobile Force Battalion, tendered his immediate resignation on February 1, a day before the departure of Lanao-bound troops.

Osorio, of Dalaguete town in southern Cebu, had been in the police service for 10 years.

Chief Superintendent Debold Sinas, Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) director, said the assignment was part of Osorio’s job as member of the Philippine National Police.

“His refusal to take a new assignment was a slap to the police force, affecting the morale of the police,” the director said.

Sinas said though charges will not be filed against Osorio, saying his move did not constitute a dereliction of duty or an act unbecoming of a policeman because he resigned before the deployment took effect.

The FREEMAN tried to reach Osorio through his social media account, but messages were left unanswered as of this writing.

Moreover, Sinas said policemen deployed in Lanao del Norte are safe and unharmed in the wake of bombings in the province.

Explosions rocked two towns in Lanao del Norte on Tuesday afternoon. No casualties were reported in the separate explosions that hit the towns of Lala and Kauswagan.

The first explosion occurred around 4:35 p.m. in front of a gasoline station in Lala town and it was succeeded by another one behind the municipal hall of Kauswagan town around 4:50 p.m.

Police are investigating and gathering data to determine who is behind the attacks. No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks yet.—