Capa ‘bleeds’ for fallen comrades

CEBU, Philippines - Superintendent Conrad Capa, police deputy regional director for operations, was not able to hold back his tears yesterday when he recalled the recent bloodshed in Mamasapano, Maguindanao that cost the lives of 44 elite cops.

“My heart bleeds for these SAF (Special Action Force) troopers. It’s very unfortunate,” he told the local press.

Capa also felt disgusted with the reported mutilation and desecration of the bodies of policemen, tagging it as “unforgivable.”

“There’s no need to mutilate the dead. They are dead already. They do not have to cut the heads, take out the eyes, cut the arms. Does that give them power?” he said.

 Capa further said the slain young policemen should be given the right of dignity upon their deaths.

“When we’re dead, we’re dead. Just give us the dignity of death. Kanila na lang ang baril, ang uniform kanila na. Just the leave the bodies alone,” he said.

He then described Sunday’s carnage as the “single biggest casualty in the history of the Philippine National Police and even in the Philippine Constabulary.”

Capa, who is concurrently acting as officer-in-charge of Cebu City Police Office, spent the first four years of his career as SAF member.  He entered the organization in 1985, two years after its inception, and left in 1989.

Capa refused to comment on the government’s claim that the ill-fated incident was a “misencounter.”

However, he said a commander has to make a judgment call which may be right or wrong but is “hard to refute.” He said a commander must decide based on the information available to him.

 “If you cannot judge, if you don’t know what to do and if you don’t know how to decide, then you have no business being a commander. It should be in our character as commanders,” he said.

MASS LEAVE

While the mass leave among PNP Academy officials is not mandatory for all camp offices in the country, Capa and Cebu Provincial Police Office director Noel Gillamac said they will still have to decide whether the mass leave will be pursued in Central Visayas.

He said he may discourage policemen to go on mass leave because of operational matters, adding that the police officers cannot go on leave at the same time.

One does not need to take a leave of absence to show a sign of protest, according to Capa.

“There is a certain percentage of policemen who can go on leave,” he said.

IN HONOR OF THE DEAD COPS

Capa also shared that he plans to personally visit the wake of Police Officer 1 Romeo Cempron from Barangay Tayud, Consolacion and Police Officer 2 Wendell Candano of Barangay Lawaan, Dumanjug, the two Cebuanos who were among the killed PNP-SAF members.

 He also encouraged those interested PNP personnel or former SAF members to do the same.

“We will give them the full burial honors. They die with their boots on,” he said.

Meanwhile, the live-in partner and the two children of the slain police Officer 3 Junrel Kibete, who hails from Sta. Catalina town in Negros Oriental, personally received the letter of condolence from PNP officer-in-charge Leonardo Espina at the office of the provincial director yesterday morning. — (FREEMAN)