Fuente cops shave heads for Fallen 44

A police officer gets his head shaved at the Fuente police precinct. (CDN Photo/Tonee Despojo)

Seventy-six policemen of the Fuente police precinct had their heads shaved yesterday to express  support for  the families of the 44 slain Special Action Force (SAF) police commandos.

PO2 Sheryl Guanco and five female cops joined 40 of their male colleagues in shaving their heads.

“Motubo ra man ang buhok (The hair will grow back),” Guanco said.

The 30-year-old police officer said she last shaved her head during their scout training in 2010.

Chief Insp. Wildemar Tiu, Fuente police precinct chief, encouraged police officers from other precincts to do the same to show support for their  fallen comrades.

Unity
He said he received a message from their Philippine National Police Academy Class 2003-Sambigkis Class president Chief Insp. Dexter Versola, informing Tiu of the head shaving as a  nationwide gesture of   sympathy for the fallen police officers.

“That’s how strong the solidarity, camaraderie and unity of PNP-SAF is,” Tiu said.

Meanwhile, the widow of one of the SAF commandos voiced her disappointment over President Benigno Aquino III’s conferral of the Medalya ng Katapangan or the PNP Medal of Bravery to the police officers.

Michelle Candano, the widow of P01 Windel Candano of Dumanjug town, Cebu said her husband was denied the honor of being awarded the Medalya ng Kagitingan or Medal of Valor, the highest award for police officers who died in the line of duty.

The medals were conferred during a necrological service at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City last January 30.

Interim
In her Facebook post which carried the hashtag #pasabtamiani’ (make us understand), Mrs. Candano said the families of the 44 policemen were expecting that the President to  award the PNP Medal of Valor and not the Medal of Bravery after the commandos sacrificed their lives to get Malaysian bomb-maker and Jemaah Islamiyah leader Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirmed last Wednesday night  the SAF commandos’ success in acquiring their objective to get Marwan based on the DNA test results.

Mrs. Candano’s post was shared 28 times and has 62 likes as of press time.

Chief Supt. Augusto Marquez Jr., deputy director for the PNP Directorate for Investigation based in Camp Crame and one of the members of the Awards Board, clarified that the  medals given to the slain policemen were just interim or temporary medals.

“Medalya ng Katapangan was the safest medal to temporarily award to them. The board will later reconvene to hear one by one the details of heroism of all those gallant men. I am sure many Medals of Valor will fall,” he said.

Marquez said P01 Candano, a medic who reportedly did not leave his wounded comrades, may be cited for his gallantry.

The Dumanjug municipal government was expected to give the P100,000 financial assistance to Candano’s family during the scheduled necrological service last night.

Candano’s body was transferred to the  Dumanjug municipal hall yesterday afternoon from his residence in Lawaan.

His remains will be brought to St. Peter Funeral Homes in Imus Cebu City this afternoon for a two-day wake before his interment on Sunday.