NCRPO, QCPD honor cop killed in drug bust

MANILA, Philippines - The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) and the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) gave yesterday a posthumous award to a policeman who was killed in an anti-drug operation on June 9.

NCRPO chief Director Leonardo Espina and QCPD director Senior Superintendent Richard Albano went to Police Officer 1 Renato Tabago’s house in Tondo, Manila.

Albano said the posthumous award may mean little to some but it was their way of honoring Tabago, an anti-drug operative of QCPD Station 6, who died in the line of duty.

Espina said Tabago’s sacrifice “earned the lasting honor and respect not only for himself and the NCRPO but for the entire Philippine National Police organization.”

Tabago – accompanied by Police Officers 3 Santelices Heide and Alain Sigua – was killed as he was in the act of arresting suspected drug pusher Johnly Gabriel during an anti-drug operation at the Freedom Park in Barangay Batasan Hills at around 9 a.m. on June 9.

When an informant brought the three police officers to the park, Heide and Sigua kept their distance as Tabago and the informant talked with Gabriel and two other alleged drug pushers, Randy Villaruel and a certain “Meco.”

After Tabago grabbed hold of Gabriel, the suspects fought back, stabbing the policeman once in the head, twice in the neck, twice in the chest and twice in the back.

When Tabago fell, Gabriel grabbed the policeman’s .40 caliber Glock pistol and shot him in the forehead. The suspects fled with Tabago’s gun.