CEBU CITY – As rains poured down, President Rodrigo Duterte visited the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) on Monday afternoon to meet with officials of the police and the Army in the region.
The closed-door meeting lasted for four hours.
Shortly before the proceedings started, President Duterte conferred upon PO2 Aristeo Tampus an Order of Lapu-Lapu medal for the policeman’s bravery in neutralizing a 27-year-old suspected drug peddler in San Fernando town last February 4.
Tampus was shot in the left arm by Benjamin Acero Jr., a newly identified drug suspect in the municipality, during a drug bust.
Acero allegedly resisted arrest and grappled for the service firearm of PO2 Aristeo Tampus, and shot the latter on the left arm.
Although he was wounded, the police officer managed to go after Acero and shot the drug suspect at least 13 times.
Acero died.
Tampus was accompanied by his family in meeting President Duterte at the PRO-7 conference room late afternoon on Monday.
After the awarding, the media were requested to step out of the conference room.
Supt. Reyman Tolentin, spokesperson of the PRO-7, said President Duterte was just given updates on the operations of the police, the Army, and the Navy during the meeting.
“Of course, we’re very happy that the commander in chief personally visited us. It’s a morale booster for us,” said Tolentin in an interview after the proceedings.
Although the President’s schedule was a bit delayed, he said everything went well throughout the chief executive’s visit to the Queen City of the South.
“It was generally peaceful so to speak,” Tolentin said.
Due to time constraints, the supposed press conference of President Duterte at PRO-7 was canceled. He also did not give any public speech there.
When he arrived at PRO-7, President Duterte turned over 20 units of Mitsubishi Montero patrol vehicles to the local police.
The new vehicles were donated by the Japanese government to the Philippines.
At least 40 patrol vehicles from Japan were also delivered to the Philippine National Police headquarters in Camp Crame in November 2017 while 26 others were distributed to the different police stations in Davao early this year.
In a statement, Mutsuhiro Oshikiri, president and chief executive officer of Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corporation, said they understand the vital role played by the police, especially in the fight against terrorism and criminality.
“As always, we are confident that our Montero Sport will deliver remarkable driving performance and be of enormous value to law enforcement as they work to keep local communities safe,” Oshikiri said.