Flags in all police camps flown at half-staff for Robredo

IN MOURNING. The Philippine flag at a military camp in Metro Manila is flown at half-staff Tuesday as a sign of mourning on the death of Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo. FRANCES MANGOSING/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines— Flags in all police camps in the country were flown at half-staff on Tuesday as the 147,000-strong Philippine National Police joined the nation in mourning the  death of Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo.

“As the chief of the PNP, I extend the deepest sympathy of all officers and men (of the PNP) to the family of the late (Interior and Local Government) secretary,” PNP chief Director General Nicanor Bartolome said in a statement.

“We join the family and friends of the late secretary in prayer for the eternal repose of his soul,” he added.

Robredo’s body was recovered Tuesday morning by technical divers in waters off Masbate three days after his plane crashed into the sea just 800 meters from the shore.

As secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government, Robredo had administrative supervision over the local government units and the interior department’s attached agencies–the PNP, the Bureau of Fire Protection and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.

Bartolome ordered the flags in every PNP camp to fly at half-staff “as an expression of our great respect to a great man and a good leader who steered the DILG-PNP family through the straight and narrow path of proper public service.”