Controversial cops from Metro Manila rescue Basilan flood victims

COTABATO CITY -- The misfits in the Philippine National Police President Rodrigo Duterte deployed last month in Basilan are bouncing back, struggling to prove they are worthy of a second chance.The mayor of Lamitan City, Rose Furigay, said on Wednesday her constituents are thankful to some of them for helping rescue hundreds whose villages were hit by devastating flashfloods last week.There are 110 of them now in Basilan, discharging peacekeeping duties under the provincial police office.Furigay said rampaging floodwaters spawned by three days of incessant rains swept through 11 barangays in Lamitan City, affecting thousands of villagers. Rescue and relief works were made lighter with the help of the responding police teams. They are just as patriotic as we are. They deserve help to rise again as good police officers, she said.Lamitan City, which has 45 barangays, is capital of the island province of Basilan, 27 kilometers via overland travel from Isabela City, where the provincial police office (PPO) is located.The Basilan PPO is overseeing the programs meant to hasten the reform of the policemen who were booted out of their units in Metro Manila for having been remiss in their duties. We also ought to thank the military and different agencies, including our provincial government and the executive department of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao for extending help to the calamity-stricken residents of Lamitan City, Furigay said.Among the first to respond to the emergency last week were teams of local policemen and their colleagues from Metro Manila Duterte assigned in Basilan for two years as punishment for various offenses.Pablan Alih, a Basilan-based senior staff of ARMM’s local government department, said he was fascinated with how the policemen from Metro Manila, despite language barriers, managed to help evacuate hundreds to higher grounds as heavy rains poured in the flooded areas.Chief Supt. Reuben Theodore Sindac, ARMM’s police director, said he is thankful to residents of Lamitan City and the 11 towns in Basilan for treating the policemen from Metro Manila as compatriot-Filipinos. Because they agreed to be deployed in Basilan without complain there is manifestation that they still love the Philippine National Police and are ready to make amends for whatever possible wrong they have done, Sindac said Wednesday.Alih said some of the policemen thrown to the province who are now their friends are overtly remorseful. They have built friendship with people in the areas where they work. They are doing their assignments fine enough as we can see from a distance, Alih said.He said as moderate Muslims, it is a religious calling for them to help people become respectful, friendly and kind to others regardless of religions and races. In Islam, even just a smile to strangers is already a form of charity, said Alih, a Muslim ethnic Yakan.Basilan Gov. Jim Hataman enlisted some of the policemen from Metro Manila in distributing food and other relief supplies to flood victims in the initial humanitarian outreach missions of the provincial government.Personnel of ARMM’s Humanitarian Emergency Assistance and Response Team (HEART), which delivered relief supplies to flood-stricken barangays in Lamitan City, confirmed seeing some policemen helping facilitate relief services.The HEART, operating under the ministerial control of ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman, also distributed relief supplies on Wednesday to thousands of ethnic Yakan villagers dislocated by recent hostilities between the military and Abu Sayyaf bandits in Albarka town in Basilan.Myrna Jocelyn Henry, information staff of HEART, said their on-going relief operations in the island province is being assisted by Basilan’s provincial police director, Senior Supt. Nickson Muksan, his local subordinates and all of the scalawag policemen from Metro Manila.The Sangguniang Panglungsod of Lamitan has declared the city under state of calamity to hasten the release of state funds earmarked for relief and rehabilitation services.