“Outstanding leaders go out of their way to
boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it's
amazing what they can accomplish.” Sam
Walton
By Alex P. Vidal
WHAT the Philippine National Police (PNP) needs
today is leadership by example.
The morale of the members of the controversy-laden
organization is boosted when their superior officers show exemplary acts when
the goings get tough.
But unlike PNP Director General Alan Purisima
who has been playing Houdini these past weeks, Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO)
director, Senior Superintendent Cornelio Salinas displayed a classic leadership
when he personally visited the two policemen detained at the Iloilo Provincial
Integrated Jail in Barangay Nanga, Pototan, Iloilo for murder.
Inspector Rey Castro and PO3 Aaron Gaton are not
yet convicted criminals though.
They were ordered arrested by Judge Rene
Hortillo of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 68 for the killing of poultry
dealer Arlie Decolongon at the Dumangas public market in Dumangas, Iloilo on
January 2, 2014.
PURSUE
Decolongon’s family pursued the case against
Castro, then the Dumangas deputy police chief, and Gaton, then the Dumangas
police investigator.
The two tackled Decolongon when they responded
to a complaint that an armed civilian was acting unruly inside the public
market at around 11 o’clock in the morning.
Efforts to pacify Decolongon reportedly proved
futile when the latter shot the cops but missed.
Senior Inspector Jonathan Pinuela, then the
Dumangas police chief, confirmed that Castro shot Decolongon on the left thigh
to neutralize him.
Decolongon reportedly tried to shoot them again
but Castro fatally mowed him down with his .9mm service pistol.
The responding police officer claimed they
killed Decolongon “in self defense” and the encounter happened “in the line of
duty.”
Salinas stood by his men.
“Our men only defended themselves from someone
who was armed with a gun and trying to shoot them,” declared Salinas, who was
accompanied by lawyer Troy Warren Cayanan and Iloilo Police Provincial Office’s
(IPPO) 1st Maneuver Platoon head, Inspector Marlon Girasol.
They handed to Castro and Gaton grocery items
and some cash for their families.
SHOES
Any embattled cop in the shoes of Castro and
Gaton would be elated after Salinas assured the two cops that the IPPO, the
Police Regional Office-6 and the Capitol led by Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. would
support them all the way.
The act of voluntarily surrendering to Salinas
after the warrant for their arrest came out two weeks ago was a sign that
Castro and Gaton gamely accepted their fate and were prepared to undergo trial
proceedings.
As professional police officers, they did not
circumvent the law and submitted themselves peacefully.
Unlike some high-profile political personalities
like former senator Panfilo Lacson and former Palawan governor Joel Reyes, who
used their connections and resources to disappear like comets when news about
their impending arrest came out.
Castro and Gaton believe that every episode that
transpired after they killed Decolongon was only part of the democratic system.
RESPECT
With due respect to the Decolongon family, who is the aggrieved party here, Salinas should be credited for the moral support
he gave the two inmates.
His acts of personally visiting and giving them
assurances of total support from the PNP organization must have brought instant
optimism and buoyancy in the cops' detention cell.
In their darkest hours, the two police officers
needed the kind of moral support shown by Salinas and the inmates’ classmates
in the police organization.
From being law enforcers they now find
themselves in the company of other lawless elements detained in the same
facility.
PNP leaders can’t afford to be indifferent when
their men are the ones on the defensive position, let alone accused of a
criminal offense.
A true leader must be able to read the psyche of
his embattled men and be able to inspire them despite their setback when they
lest expect it.
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