Fallen commando wanted transfer to Davao to be nearer his wife, son

DAVAO CITY, Philippines—Even on the eve of the botched operation that cost him his life and those of 43 others, SPO1 Lover Inocencio dreamed of a transfer to Davao region so he could be closer to his family.

Inocencio loved his family so much that he had been making the most of his 15-day vacation leave every three months to be with them, his wife Leizel said.

In the last four years, she said, her husband had been asking to be transferred to either Davao City or Panabo City in Davao del Norte province to be near her and their 5-year-old son, Justin.

On the night of Jan. 24, before his team of Special Action Force (SAF) commandos was to embark on the ill-fated mission in Mamasapano town, Maguindanao province, Inocencio texted his wife, “Ingat kayo diyan (Take care),” and asked Justin to study well.

“Just be patient, Jus,” he told his son. “Who knows, they’ll finally approve my transfer there.”

Leizel said her husband had been a survivor of hard times who had wanted to give the best to his son. In fact, she said, he had taken to selling Gatorade, cigarettes and e-load to fellow policemen, to earn extra money to buy toys for “pasalubong” to Justin.

“He survived working his way through high school,” said Leizel, who fondly called her husband “Dada.” She added: “He did not want his son to experience what he had gone through.”

“At first, I thought, nothing would happen because after all, he’s a veteran fighter,” she said, recalling how her husband survived the Zamboanga siege in September 2013 and many other battles. But when his text messages stopped, she began to worry.

“He never used to let the day pass without texting,” Leizel said. “That’s why, when he failed to text, I began to worry.”

When she first heard of the news about the 44 SAF commandos killed in a clash in Mamasapano, she was so anxious, she stopped watching TV and prayed hard that her husband was not among them.

“Then, someone texted me to be strong,” she said, “Even when the call from their office came, I still hoped he was still among the missing. But I saw his name on the Internet the following day.”

During his seven-day Christmas vacation, the last he spent with his family, Inocencio had been praying that the call for the special operation, originally scheduled for December, would not come before their reunion. It did not.

Six days after he arrived for the holidays, he and his wife spent their son’s Dec. 23 birthday on the beach on Samal Island, Liezel said. The next day, they went to their parents’ house in Trento town, Agusan del Sur province, for noche buena and went home to Panabo the day after.