By Mar Gabriel
Eagle News Service
(Eagle News) — A good son, and a good husband. This was how Cpl. Lauro De Guzman was described by his grieving parents, and his wife.
The bemedalled police officer was among the four killed in the misencounter between the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) on Wednesday, Feb. 24.
Lauro’s wife, Andrea, still could not believe that he was among those killed in the misencounter. She heard about the incident in the news on Wednesday, Feb. 24. But she never expected that her husband was part of the operation, and was even among the victims.
What was harder to bear was that Lauro died due to 16 bullet wounds, and those bullets came from friendly fire — from the PDEA side which figured in the misencounter.
“Sobrang sakit. Kasi, imagine po, 16 bullets ang tumama sa asawa ko. Hindi nya deserve yun po. (It hurts so much. Just imagine, my husband was killed by 16 bullets. He didn’t deserve this),” said Andrea.
According to what had been relayed to them, her husband just tried to help a fellow member of the Quezon City Police who was the first one to be shot. Her husband tried to save him, but he was riddled by bullets instead.
“Ang kuwento po sa amin, ang nauna pong (barilin) ay yung isa pong namatay na pulis. Yun po yung unang nabaril. And then siya po, parang tinulungan nya. Kaso po pagtulong po nya, siya naman po ang napagbalingan,” Andrea said. She said that this was also what they saw in the video of the misencounter.
-Dedicated policeman-
Lauro and Andrea have been married for just three years. Andrea attests to her husband’s dedication as a police officer and a public servant. They would just see each other once in a while. The last time she saw her husband was on Feb. 14 when he went home to see her in their house in San Miguel. Bulacan.
“Lagi niyang sinasabi sa akin una niyang pinakasalan ang gobyerno. Napaka dedicated nya sa work. Pero pag-uwi niya, sobra siyang bumabawi. (He always tells me, that he is first married to his job in the government. He is so dedicated to his work. But when he comes home, he makes sure that he makes up for it)” Andrea said.
Lauro’s mother. Yolanda, also cannot accept what happened to her only son. She recalls how Lauro had been such a good son, always kind and humble. He never bragged about his achievements, not even once.
In fact, Lauro had received medals and awards recognizing his excellence in the performance of his duty, but he never once posted these achievements and his awards in social media.
“Wala po siyang kayabangan, kahit may dapat nang ipagmalaki,” Aling Yolanda said. She recalled that her son did not even tell them about his promotion.
“Nung mapromote po siya ng PO2 (Police Officer 2), hindi namin alam. Sa iba pa namin nalaman. Sabi ng bayaw niya, ‘hindi ka man lang nagpa-picture , na-promote ka na pala.’ Sabi nya, ‘para ano pa ..para ipagyabang? (When he was promoted as PO2, we did not even know. We only learned about it from other people. His brother-in-law tells him, ‘You did not even have a picture taken during the promotion.’ And he replied, ‘For what? To boast about it?)” her mother recalled her son as saying.
-Unanswered questions-
According to the family, they had been approached by the PNP already to try to explain the incident. Videos of the event were also shown to them.
But there are still many questions. They said they are so confused of why this happened.. why Lauro died because of bullets coming from fellow law enforcers.
“Kahit malaman po namin kung sino. Siguro yun lang po. at yung justice (We want to know who [shot him]. That’s all, and [we want] justice),” said Lauro’s wife, Andrea.
“Tsaka po yung maliwanag na explanation kung bakit nagkaroon ng ganyang engkwentro. Kasi po parang medyo malabo pa yung dating sa amin. Kung bakit po naging PNP versus PDEA (We need a clearer explanation of why such a misencounter happened. Because, to us, it is still all so confusing, so muddled, as to why it turned out into a case of PNP versus PDEA in that incident),” she said.
Lauro’s mother said she wants the truth to come out. She wants justice for his son’s death
“Maparusahan sana yung totoong nagkasala,” she said.
Aside from Lauro de Guzman, another police officer, Cpl Galvin Eric Garado, also died in the misencounter, while another was injured. On the part of PDEA, one agent, Rankin Gano, and one informant also died. Three others were injured.
PNP chief Debold Sinas is set to visit De Guzman’s wake to give a posthumous award to the policeman.
Earlier, former PNP chief and now senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa expressed grave concern about what happened. He said both parties should have sensed that they were both on the side of the government, and that the shootout should not have lasted for about an hour.
President Rodrigo Duterte had directed the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to probe the incident.
Palace spokesperson Harry Roque said that the President wanted to make sure that the investigation is thorough and impartial for the peace of mind of the families of those who died in the misencounter.
“Ipinaliwanag ng Pangulo kung bakit inatasan niya ang National Bureau of Investigation o NBI na manguna sa imbestigasyon. Gusto ng Presidente na magkaroon ng impartial investigation para maiwasan ang malilikot na mga mag-isip at para rin sa peace of mind ng mga biktima na patas ang imbestigasyon,” Presidential Roque explained in a state-run news program on PTV-4 aired on Saturday, Feb. 27.
(Translated from a video report by Mar Gabriel, Eagle News Service)