‘Bad’ cops arrive in Zambo en route to Basilan

Policemen with administrative cases arrive at the Edwin Andrews Air Base in Zamboanga.—JULIE S. ALIPALA

ZAMBOANGA CITY—A total of 54 erring police officers arrived at the Edwin Andrews Air Base here on Tuesday en route to the southern island of Basilan, where they were expected to help in the fight against the Abu Sayyaf group.

Some of the police officers took out their mobile phones and called their families as soon as they disembarked from the C130 cargo airplane.

SPO2 Elmer Calibuso of Police Regional Office Cagayan Valley said he had to inform his family that he had safely landed in this city.

“Mine was a minor offense, and I already received disciplinary action—they have demoted me. Now I wonder, why am I the one transferred here?” said Calibuso, who was clearly upset about his transfer.

Calibuso said he felt offended everytime people referred to him as a “scalawag” over an administrative offense.

But another police officer from Quezon City welcomed the move because it meant he would be nearer his family’s home province of Tawi-Tawi.

“We are not here to wage war. We are happy because our environment is new,” added another police officer, who covered his face and name plate. He said they were sent here to “make peace.”

But Chief Supt. Reuben Theodore Sindac, police chief for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), said the police officers would be sent to fight the Abu Sayyaf bandit group.

“There will be no retraining or transformation [program]. They will be considered as one of us. They will be fighting side by side with police officers and men of the ARMM. The Basilan police will [need] additional men in the fight against the Abu Sayyaf,” Sindac said.

Sindac said he expected over 300 policemen, but only 54 boarded the plane in Villamor Air Base. Of the 54, 34 were from the National Capitol Region, 10 from Region 2, two from Quezon City and eight from Cagayan Valley and the Cordillera.

The police officers were expected to be in Basilan by Tuesday afternoon. —JULIE S. ALIPALA, INQUIRER MINDANAO