IN SYMPATHY. President Rodrigo Duterte condoles with the family of one of the slain police officers in Negros Oriental on Saturday (July 20, 2019). With the President are (from left) Education Secretary Leonor Briones, Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año, Senator Christopher Lawrence "Bong" Go, and Philippine National Police chief General Oscar Albayalde. (Albert Alcain/Presidential Photo)
President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday night pledged financial, education, and employment assistance to the families of the four police intelligence operatives who were killed allegedly by members of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) Thursday afternoon in Barangay Mabato, Ayungon, Negros Oriental.
The President paid his last respects to the four policemen and condoled with their families at the multi-purpose hall of the Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office (NOPPO) at Camp Francisco Fernandez in Agan-an, Sibulan town, where he arrived at around 9 p.m.
He conferred posthumously the award of the Order of Lapu-Lapu with the Rank of Kalasag to each of the slain police personnel, namely, Cpl. Relebert Beronio, Pat. Raffy Callao, Pat. Ruel Cabellon, and Pat. Marquino de Leon of the Regional Mobile Force Battalion 7 (RMFB7).
With Duterte was Education Secretary Leonor Briones, who took note of the President’s directive to give employment to the younger sister of Callao, although it was not yet clear what position will be given to her.
Ruben Aquino, stepfather of Callao, said in an interview that the President also promised education assistance to another sister of the slain policeman.
Holding back tears, he said Callao was his “son”, because he started taking care of the latter since he was one year old.
Callao, single, was a dedicated policeman, and he helped the family by sending to school his two younger stepsisters, Aquino said. He would come to visit their family every time he had the opportunity, he added.
Callao finished Bachelor of Science in Criminology at the Negros Oriental State University here and at age 21, enlisted with the Philippine National Police, where he had served for about four years until his death, the stepfather said.
Aquino is hopeful that the President will fulfill his promises even as he and his family thanked him for taking time out to personally visit the wake.
On the other hand, Librando Beronio, father of Relebert, said President Duterte promised employment for three of their family members.
“It was the President himself who told us, remember when we were called forward by the DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government,” he told reporters in an interview.
“My wife, my eldest child, and I will be given employment although we still don’t know what kind,” he said in the Cebuano dialect.
The Beronio family is calling for justice for the death of the 26-year-old police corporal and his three colleagues.
Cpl. Clinsar Tinoy, a classmate of Beronio in the “Corinthians" batch of 146 members that graduated in July 2015, said his murder has emboldened them to continue to serve in the PNP and to fight for peace and freedom.
“What we see now is that the security of police personnel in Negros is now more dangerous because of the insurgency and that is why we have to be doubly careful,” he said.
Tinoy believed that what happened to the four slain policemen was “planned” by the perpetrators.
“Ipakita gyud namo nga kami sa kapolisan, wala mi nahadlok nila ug mas nisamot pa gani ang among kampanya sa terrorism batok kanila (we will definitely show that we in the police service are not cowed by them [NPA] and in fact, our campaign against terrorism has even intensified”.
Several of Beronio’s batch-mates in the police force, both men and women, coming from as far as Bohol, arrived in Negros Oriental to visit his wake and the slain police officers.
Initially, the families of the slain cops were given initial assistance from the Public Safety Mutual Benefit Fund of the PNP, said Col. Raul Tacaca, Negros Oriental police director.
The financial assistance varies depending on the ranks of the deceased PNP members, he noted.
Meanwhile, PNP chief Oscar Albayalde who accompanied the President, also posthumously conferred the Medalya ng Kagitingan to the slain intelligence operatives.
Duterte, after visiting the wake, held a closed-door conference with members of the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines at the NOPPO headquarters.
Tacaca declined to divulge the discussions during the meeting but said the President reiterated his directive to the government security forces to continue their relentless efforts to crush the insurgency in Negros Oriental.
Present during the closed-door meeting were DILG Secretary Eduardo Año, Presidential Adviser for the Visayas Secretary Michael Dino, Albayalde, and other AFP and PNP officials.
The bodies of the slain policemen will be brought to their respective homes on Sunday night. Their internment dates have yet to be determined.
The late police officers, who were all from Negros Oriental, will be given full military burial honors.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1075568
The President paid his last respects to the four policemen and condoled with their families at the multi-purpose hall of the Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office (NOPPO) at Camp Francisco Fernandez in Agan-an, Sibulan town, where he arrived at around 9 p.m.
He conferred posthumously the award of the Order of Lapu-Lapu with the Rank of Kalasag to each of the slain police personnel, namely, Cpl. Relebert Beronio, Pat. Raffy Callao, Pat. Ruel Cabellon, and Pat. Marquino de Leon of the Regional Mobile Force Battalion 7 (RMFB7).
With Duterte was Education Secretary Leonor Briones, who took note of the President’s directive to give employment to the younger sister of Callao, although it was not yet clear what position will be given to her.
Ruben Aquino, stepfather of Callao, said in an interview that the President also promised education assistance to another sister of the slain policeman.
Holding back tears, he said Callao was his “son”, because he started taking care of the latter since he was one year old.
Callao, single, was a dedicated policeman, and he helped the family by sending to school his two younger stepsisters, Aquino said. He would come to visit their family every time he had the opportunity, he added.
Callao finished Bachelor of Science in Criminology at the Negros Oriental State University here and at age 21, enlisted with the Philippine National Police, where he had served for about four years until his death, the stepfather said.
Aquino is hopeful that the President will fulfill his promises even as he and his family thanked him for taking time out to personally visit the wake.
On the other hand, Librando Beronio, father of Relebert, said President Duterte promised employment for three of their family members.
“It was the President himself who told us, remember when we were called forward by the DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government,” he told reporters in an interview.
“My wife, my eldest child, and I will be given employment although we still don’t know what kind,” he said in the Cebuano dialect.
The Beronio family is calling for justice for the death of the 26-year-old police corporal and his three colleagues.
Cpl. Clinsar Tinoy, a classmate of Beronio in the “Corinthians" batch of 146 members that graduated in July 2015, said his murder has emboldened them to continue to serve in the PNP and to fight for peace and freedom.
“What we see now is that the security of police personnel in Negros is now more dangerous because of the insurgency and that is why we have to be doubly careful,” he said.
Tinoy believed that what happened to the four slain policemen was “planned” by the perpetrators.
“Ipakita gyud namo nga kami sa kapolisan, wala mi nahadlok nila ug mas nisamot pa gani ang among kampanya sa terrorism batok kanila (we will definitely show that we in the police service are not cowed by them [NPA] and in fact, our campaign against terrorism has even intensified”.
Several of Beronio’s batch-mates in the police force, both men and women, coming from as far as Bohol, arrived in Negros Oriental to visit his wake and the slain police officers.
Initially, the families of the slain cops were given initial assistance from the Public Safety Mutual Benefit Fund of the PNP, said Col. Raul Tacaca, Negros Oriental police director.
The financial assistance varies depending on the ranks of the deceased PNP members, he noted.
Meanwhile, PNP chief Oscar Albayalde who accompanied the President, also posthumously conferred the Medalya ng Kagitingan to the slain intelligence operatives.
Duterte, after visiting the wake, held a closed-door conference with members of the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines at the NOPPO headquarters.
Tacaca declined to divulge the discussions during the meeting but said the President reiterated his directive to the government security forces to continue their relentless efforts to crush the insurgency in Negros Oriental.
Present during the closed-door meeting were DILG Secretary Eduardo Año, Presidential Adviser for the Visayas Secretary Michael Dino, Albayalde, and other AFP and PNP officials.
The bodies of the slain policemen will be brought to their respective homes on Sunday night. Their internment dates have yet to be determined.
The late police officers, who were all from Negros Oriental, will be given full military burial honors.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1075568
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