Cebu city police chief breaks down over reports of mutilation: ‘Just give us the dignity of death… leave the bodies alone’
He called them heroes “too young” to be slaughtered.
The loss of 44 police commandos killed in battle in Maguindanao last Sunday left Senior Supt. Conrad Capa choking back tears.
He had started his career with the Special Action Forces from 1985 to 1989.
“My heart bleeds for these SAF troopers. It has brought me a lot of memories… It is really painful,” the acting director of the Cebu City Police Office said in a press conference yesterday where he discussed arrangements for two slain Cebuano policemen.
President Aquino has set today as a National Day of Mourning for the slain SAF members who were on a mission to arrest two high-level terrorists.
“Personally, this is what I want to tell the MILF… I can forgive them because we die.. police and military, we die, we give our lives, but what I cannot… We do not desecrate the dead. That is unacceptable,” said Capa, who had to pause, and shut his eyes with head bowed to prevent tears from falling.
The effort left his eyes red with indignation and grief.
“There is no need to mutilate the dead, they are dead already. They do not have to cut the heads, take out the eyes and cut the arms, I can forgive them… We die in battle, but when we’re dead, just give us the dignity of death.”
No official in Manila has yet confirmed initial reports, mostly circulating in social media, about fallen soldiers being dismembered in the aftermath of what Malacanang has called a “misencounter” in Mamasapano town.
Capa was a young junior officer of the Philippine Constabulary when he signed up for further training with the SAF which was then under Lt. Col. Reynaldo Velasco, who became deputy director-general of the Philippine National Police.
Capa was in the national spotlight when he led a task force that went after high-profile crime suspects and fugitives. He was transferred to the Police Regional Office 7 in Cebu last year a week after his team captured fugitive property developer, Delfin Lee.’
Yesterday 0he said reports reached him about mutilation of fallen soldiers, whom he said were “too young”, some still in their late 20s. He said the men clashed with MILF rebels on their way back from the operation.
Black berets identify members of the Philippine National Police Special Action Forces who carry the coffins of their comrades upon arrival at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City. The flag-draped coffins bear the bodies of 42 of the 44 policemen killed last Sunday in Maguindanao. (AP Photo)
“I will not comment on their claim of misencounter. I will just personally protest the descration of the dead. I cannot accept that. Ginagawa lang iyan ng ISIS,” said Capa.
“Kanila na yung baril at uniform kanila na, just leave the bodies alone. If I am the parent of that 2009 graduate how can I… you know my son’s head is missing… there was one seen tepping on the head of a fallen policeman. And that’s unacceptable.”
“We are human beings, they are human beings, regardless of our religions. We are combatants. We observe certain protocols. That why there are terms of surrender. I don’t know what’s with beheading. I don’t understand why they have to behead the dead,” an emotional Capa said.
At 4 a.m. today, a “sympathy walk” will be held by Cebu police from the IT Park in Lahug to Camp Sergio Osmeña, where a Mass will be held. The alumni association of the PNP Academy is also calling for a five-day mass leave as a sign of protest.
Capa said he can only allow seven percent of his men to join the protest in order not to paralyze regional police operations.
Two of the 44 salain policemen were from Cebu – PO2 Wendell Candano of Dumanjug town and PO1 Romeo Cempron of Consolacion town.
Capa said he would attend their vigil wake and give them “full burial honors because these guys died with their boots on.”
The death of 44 policemen was “the single biggest casualty in the history of the PNP, even the Constabulary,” he said.
The flag at the Capitol will be flown at half-mast. Gov. Hilardio Davide III said the province will extend assistance to the families of the two slain Cebuano policemen but he didn’t give details.
Dumanjug Mayor Nelson Garcia said the town would give P20,000 to the Candano family and take care of transporting the policeman’s remains from the Mactan airport to his home in barangay Lawaan./with Correspondents Chito O. Aragon and Melissa Q. Cabahug
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