Cops Mourn, Condemn Killing of 49 PNP SAF Troops in Maguindanao

(PNA) — Policemen in Cebu are wearing black armbands to show support to their 49 fallen comrades, members of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force (SAF) who were killed in a “misencounter” Sunday with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) Director Noel Gillamac said they were saddened by the death of the elite SAF personnel.

Supt. Rodolfo Albotra, Provincial Intelligence Branch chief and president of the Philippine National Police Academy Alumni Association Inc. 7 (PNPAAAI7), also condemned the killing.

“On behalf of the PNPAAAI7, being its president, and that most of the officers killed were graduates of the academy, we are one in showing support and sympathy for our fallen comrades,” Albotra said.

He said they believe that “the higher headquarters of the Philippine National Police will not sleep on this one and they will give justice to those people who died on that incident.”

Gillamac said he personally handed the letter of PNP Officer-in-charge Leonardo Espina to the wives of two Cebuanos who were among the 49 elite policemen killed during the Maguindanao encounter.

Gillamac said he received a directive from the Espina to personally give the letter to the widows of PO1 Romeo Cempron, who hailed from Consolacion town, and PO2 Wendell Candano of Dumanjug town.

Candano’s wife Michelle, works at the Cebu Central Post Office in Cebu City, and Cempron’s wife Christine, is a pediatrician in Barangay Tayud, Consolacion.

Gillamac said the PNP shouldered the travel expenses of family members who claimed the bodies of the slain policemen. (PNA) FFC/EB