Defense chief against deployment of erring cops to Marawi as punishment

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana. PRESIDENTIAL PHOTOGRAPHERS DIVISION

MARAWI CITY — Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has opposed the deployment in this war-torn city of the two policemen from Mandaluyong City, who were recently caught on camera maltreating two men.

“Personally, wag sana. (Personally, my opinion is don’t bring them here.) We need good people to come here to fight this war. We don’t want yung patapon dito (rejects). Atsaka ano ang gagawin nila dito (And besides, what will they do here)? Yung ibang tao nga ayaw nilang pumunta dito (Other soldiers and policemen would rather not come here),” Lorenzana said on Thursday.

Chief Supt. Reuben Sindac, police regional director for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao officially turned over on Wednesday, Police Officers 1 Jose Tandog and Chito Enriquez to Senior Supt. John Guyguyon, Lanao del Sur acting police director, for deployment here.

The two officers apprehended two men for drinking liquor on the street in Mandaluyong City and hauled them to the police station.

A video caught Tandog hitting one of the two men with a rattan stick. Tandog even pulled his gun and threatened to shoot one of the two men. But one of the victims filmed the brutality and uploaded it on the internet.

“We want people here to help the problem. Now if you throw people here who are problematic, bibigyan lang nila ng problema ang mga commanders (they may just give commanders here a problem),” Lorenzana said.

Zia Along Adiong, Marawi Crisis Management Committee spokesperson, has declared in protest that their province is not a trash bin for bad policemen coming from Manila.

“It’s quite offensive to treat us like trash bin for abusive cops. And to use the Marawi siege as a punishment shows insensitivity,” he said.

PNP Director General Ronald Dela Rosa said he respected Lorenzana’s opinion but his method of deploying erring cops to Marawi City to punish and reform them would eventually pay off.

“I respect his opinion, but I also have my own. This place only deserves the best cops that we can provide. Well, after their assignment, they will become best cops. I guarantee that, and I challenge the media to bet on my forecast,” he said.  SFM