ILOILO City – Over two years after New People’s Army (NPA) rebels successfully raided the police station of Maasin, Iloilo in June 2017, the town’s policemen finally got punished for negligence.
Twenty cops were suspended while their police chief was demoted one rank as recommended by the Regional Internal Affairs Service of the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6).
“It took us two years to resolve this matter because we considered all their appeals and the evidences. Now, we have reached a final decision. Their suspension already started,” said Police Brigadier General Rene Pamuspusan, regional police director.
Of the 20 suspended policemen, 13 got 60-day suspension for gross incompetence. Three were suspended for 30 days for simple neglect of duty.
Some started serving their suspension last month, December 2019, while others started theirs on Jan. 1 this year.
NPA rebels raided the Maasin police station on June 18, 2017. Without firing a shot, they effectively immobilized the policemen, took at least 15 firearms, ammunition, handheld radios, police uniforms and even used the police patrol car as getaway vehicle.
They also took the policemen’s personal belongings, including wallets, a laptop, mobile phones, watches and money.
Following the embarrassing raid, the PRO-6 sacked the entire Maasin police force.
Then Maasin police chief Captain Ray Cordero was demoted one rank. He is now assigned as deputy station commander of the Sipalay police station in Negros Occidental.
“This year expect stricter policies and internal cleansing in the PRO-6,” said Pamuspusan.
‘SURPRISE’ RAID
The daring, broad daylight incursion on the Maasin police station was swift. Within 15 minutes beginning around 10:30 a.m., the rebels shanghaied eight M16 rifles, four Glock .9mm pistols, five handheld radios and their base, two laptops, P29,000 cash, and jewelry.
The rebels did not harm the nine police officers present at the police station but handcuffed them. They also used the police station’s patrol car to flee.
The other policemen of the station were not around during the raid.
Before leaving the police station, the rebels – numbering between 40 to 50 – distributed statements to residents explaining the raid.
Maasin is some 25 kilometers from Iloilo City. The rebels were long gone when troops from the Regional Public Safety Battalion (RPSB) of the PRO-6 reached the police station together with Senior Superintendent Christopher Tambungan, then the deputy regional director for operations.
Witnesses said the rebels fled toward the town of Alimodian.
Minutes after the raid, Ka Julio Montana, spokesperson of the NPA-Panay (Coronacion Chiva “Waling-Waling” Command) issued a statement praising the NPA-Napoleon Tumagtang Command for the successful operation.
The RPSB was ordered to take over the Maasin police station after the NPA raid. Chief Superintendent Jose Hawthorne Binag, then the Western Visayas police director, sacked all of Maasin’s police force, including the police station chief, Senior Inspector Ray Cordero who was not around during the raid.
NPA’S REASONS
Ka Julio Montana enumerated several reasons for the raid. He accused Maasin policemen of extortion, with poor vendors as their primary victims.
Montana also claimed the Maasin police tolerated the proliferation of illegal drugs and illegal gambling in the town.
The raid was NPA-Panay’s answer, too, to Oplan Kapayapaan all-out war campaign of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police against the revolutionary movement, Montana added.
Oplan Kapayapaan has resulted to rampant human rights violations such as illegal arrests, bombings of communities, forced evacuation of villagers, and killings of suspected rebels, among others, said Montana.
HOW IT HAPPENED
From what the PRO-6 gathered, the rebels, armed with long firearms, arrived in a truck (a Canter) and quickly surrounded the Maasin police station.
One of those who witnessed what happened was then Vice Mayor Francis Amboy (now the mayor). He quickly rushed to the area after receiving information about the rebels’ presence.
According Amboy, the rebels told him to back off.
“They told me to move away and that they won’t harm civilians. They also said they were only targeting the police station and municipal hall,” said Amboy.
Some of the rebels were women and two were seen entering the police station.
The two women rebels pretending to be civilians asked the police to have something recorded in the police blotter Then all of a sudden more rebels barged into the police station through the back door and handcuffed the nine stunned police officers on duty.
“They were disarmed, handcuffed then made to lie on the floor,” said Binag in a press conference hours after the raid. “Ang dami nila. Pinaligiran nila ang police station.”
One woman witness said the rebels used a megaphone to warn people not to go near the Maasin police station.
After 15 minutes of ransacking the police station, the rebels left.
The Maasin police patrol car was recovered in Barangay Cagay, Alimodian while the rebels abandoned their truck in Barangay Ingwan also in Alimodian./PN
