‘I’ll give them war’ — Danao City’s police chief to criminals

Danao City police chief Senior Insp. Alejandro Batobalonos.

HE eats death threats for breakfast.

And he’s not about to back down now with even with bigger threats to his life for scoring big against syndicated crime.

Senior Insp. Alejandro Batobalonos, the police chief of Danao City, is a policeman who rose from the ranks.

He has again found himself in the limelight for the killing of Medz Alvaro, an alleged level 2 drug dealer in Cebu and brother of Alvaro “Barok” Alvaro, reportedly Central Visayas’ alleged top drug lord who is now detained at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) following his surrender in Bohol last June.

The shooting to death of Medz during an alleged buy-bust operation in Danao City is now being hailed by the Philippine National Police (PNP) as one of its biggest accomplishments in Central Visayas.

The police operation, Thursday night, also killed Barok’s alleged right-hand man, Ronnie Castro, who was said to handle the financial operations of the Alvaro group. 

A few hours after the operation that killed Medz and Castro, the Danao police headquarters headed by Batobalonos was riddled with bullets at dawn by unidentified armed men.

A message sent to Batobalonos’ phone followed: “Bawos, bawos lang ta, Sir. Dili gani ka mohawa ug Danao, kuhaon pud ka namo (This is just to retaliate, Sir. If you will not get out of Danao, we will take your life).”

Seemingly unmoved by the text, Batobalonos told Cebu Daily News that this was not new to him as he had gotten used to death threats from criminals.

“Alang sa inyong kasayuran, sa Station 10 to Station 11, daghan na kaayo ko ug threat nadawat (For your information, I have received a lot of death threats from Station 10 to Station 11),” he said in an interview with CDN yesterday.

Batobalonos revealed that he also received a threat when he arrested and shot drug dealer Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz in 2003. 

During that time, Batobalonos said he was serving an arrest warrant on Diaz for his illegal drug operation when Diaz engaged him in a shootout in Uling, Naga City, southern Cebu.

He was at the time, assigned at Station 11 or the Mambaling Police Station and held the rank of Police Officer 3 (PO3).

Batobalonos told CDN that when he joined the police force in 1996, he knew the danger attached to the job; but still, he wanted to pursue his dream of becoming a policeman.

His desire to become a cop was what prompted him to shift courses in college, from Accountancy to Bachelor of Science in Criminology at the University of Cebu. 

He graduated in the year 2000 and was previously assigned to police stations in Cebu City and PNP’s Scene of the Crime Operations (SOCO).

In 2010, Batobalonos earned the rank of Inspector and was assigned to the Argao Police Station as its deputy chief of police. Much later, he became the town’s acting police chief.

Batobalonos’ assignment in Danao City began during the elections last May.

With yesterday’s strafing incident, Batobalonos said he is extra careful.

He now seldom goes home to his family in Cebu City.

“Mas ganahan ko nga dili magpaduol sa akong pamilya kay at least ako rang kaugalingon akong depensaan. Kay sa kuyog akong pamilya, daghan na akong bantayan (I would rather not stay very close to my family so that I will only have to defend myself. If my family is with me, I will have to watch over so many people),” he said. 

The strafing and death threats, according to Batobalonos, will not stop him from doing his job. 

“Nakita nato ilang kaisog. Kung gubat ilang gusto, ato ihatag nila ilang gusto (We can see how brave they are. If they want war, then we will give them what they want),” he said. 

“Dili mahimo nga ang law enforcers nga tigpatuman sa balaod against anang mga badlongon, mao na hinoon ang moatras. We’ll see kung asa ilang kaisog (It’s not right that law enforcers who implement the law against these scalawags to back down. We’ll see how brave they are),” Batobalonos said, bravely.