Cop killed in shootout in Catmon laid to rest
AS THE coffin bearing PO2 Dionelio Jurbina was lowered to the ground, his daughter Shane took his police cap and put it on her head.
Shane, 11, remains steadfast in her ambition to follow in the footsteps of her father and be an officer when she grows up.
While the daughter smiled during the picture-taking at the El Retiro Cemetery in Catmon
yesterday, her mother Susan kept on sobbing.
“Mora’g gikumot akong dughan sa ilang speech (It’s as if they wrung my heart with eulogies),” she told Sun.Star Cebu.
Eulogies
PO2 Dionelio, who was laid to rest shortly before noon, was killed in a shootout with armed men in Sitio Buyo, Barangay Binongkalan last Nov. 4.
The eulogies, which started at the public viewing ceremony inside the Catmon Police Station at 8 a.m., became emotional for everyone.
“Hero gyud si Noel (Jurbina was indeed a hero),” Catmon Police Chief Roberto Hugo said in a tearyeyed speech before PO2 Dionelio’s flag-draped coffin inside the station.
Before he spoke, SPO2 Rex Menchavez, the victim’s teammate for years, also wept while he asked PO2 Dionelio’s relatives, who were present, for forgiveness. “Sorry kaayo (I’m really sorry),” he said.
Menchavez, who was wounded in the encounter, said he wished he could have done something to prevent PO2 Dio-
nelio from being shot.
Susan admitted she still cannot look at Menchavez in the face.
“Sakitan pa ko kon makakita ko niya ba. Makahinumdom man gud
ko, buddy gyod na sila (The sight of him pains me. He reminds me of my husband because the two of them were very good buddies),” she said.
Plaque of recognition
Catmon Mayor Dan Jusay also gave a eulogy, which was then followed by the presentation of a plaque of recognition for
Cop killed in shootout in Catmon laid to rest PO2 Dionelio’s heroism through Municipal Council Resolution 106.
After six eulogies, which included that of a retired police official and other relatives, the coffin was brought to the San Guillermo Parish for a 10:30 a.m. mass.
Some 21 personnel of the Special Weapons and Tactics drew their guns in the cemetery to honor Jurbina.
“Akong ipadayon ang iyang mga plano sa iya un- tang retirement (I will continue what he has planned to do after his retirement),” Susan said.
Her husband was less than two years away from the mandatory retirement age of 56. He had planned to renovate their beach near their house. The Jurbinas wanted to turn it into a resort.