Retiring police OIC Espina extolled as fine example of leader

Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

FORT DEL PILAR, Baguio City—Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina, outgoing officer in charge of the Philippine National Police, was honored with a testimonial parade Saturday by the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), which has credited him with steering the police organization through its worst crisis.

Espina will retire from the service on July 19 and has been visiting the different police camps the past few weeks, including the Cordillera police office at Camp Bado Dangwa in La Trinidad, Benguet, last Friday.

Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, who has supervisory powers over the PNP, turned up at the event unannounced, but stayed on the sidelines.

Espina, who was cited for his “firm and sensitive” leadership during the Mamasapano crisis early this year, was the star of the show on Saturday.

“His words and decisions during this crucial time gave a dependable brother to steer the PNP in the right direction… Here is a man who passionately defended his men, set order in the organization and inspired countless Filipinos [with stories of] the sacrifices and heroism of the members of the PNP,” said PMA Superintendent Maj. Gen. Oscar Lopez in his remarks introducing Espina.

Espina and Lopez are members of PMA Dimalupig Class of 1981.

“[Espina’s] example teaches us that every leader must have a clear sense of right and wrong, of good and evil, of honorable and dishonorable. His simple life, his no-nonsense work ethic and clear statements prove to us that leadership is not [about the] position, but action,” Lopez said.

But Espina himself made no reference to the Jan. 25 police operation to arrest suspected terrorists in rebel territory in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, which ended horrifically with the killing of 44 elite police commandos by Muslim rebels, including the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front which has signed a peace agreement with the Aquino government.

Espina’s speech dwelt on his life as a cadet and his original plan to become a doctor.

But Espina leaves the service with some sense of closure on the Mamasapano incident, said a police official.

Espina’s term is ending with “the appropriate charges being filed against the responsible people [in] the Office of the Ombudsman,” said Director Benjamin Magalong, the head of the PNP’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, who led the fact-finding team that produced the first detailed report about the operational failures in Mamasapano.

In April, the Department of Justice recommended filing complex murder charges against 90 people.

Maria Dinna Espina, Espina’s wife, said Mamasapano was a period of contemplation for her husband.

“On that infamous day when he broke down [during the congressional probe of Mamasapano], I was in Ormoc. I took the first available flight home. I had to be with him because if he was breaking down in front of the public, I could imagine how he would be in private,” she told reporters here.

It took prayers and worship music for Espina to calm down and find peace, his wife said.

Espina, in Benguet on Friday, said: “When I retire, I will go back home. It’s about time for me to be with my family.”–With reports from Kimberlie Quitasol and EV Espiritu, Inquirer Northern Luzon, and Julie M. Aurelio