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Crying over brave fallen cops, the latest of them this brave anti-kidnapping agent

June 28, 2022 Alfred P. Dalizon 722 views

Alfred DalizonON Monday morning, I received the sad news that Patrolman Joshua Lingayo, a 24-year old agent of the PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group who was shot in a gunfight with two heavily-armed kidnappers in Pililla, Rizal last June 17 has passed away.

On Tuesday, I joined colleagues and superiors of the fallen cop led by PNP Officer-in-Charge, Lieutenant General Vic Danao Jr. and PNP-AKG director, Brigadier Gen. Rod Dimas in offering our prayers for the brave officer from Lubuagan, Kalinga.

The PNP-AKG, with the consent of Lingayo’s family decided to hold a brief wake for the latter at the Camp Crame mortuary before bringing his remains to his hometown. Lingayo’s death was really a sad news for all of us since we thought he would survive his wounds.

The young anti-kidnapping agent literally fought for his life for 13 long days until his time came. What a tragic ending for a young gallant cop who really sacrificed his life in the performance of duty.

Two hours before the scheduled press conference of the joint task force for President Bongbong Marcos Jr.’s inauguration at the National Museum in Manila, I went to the Camp Crame Mortuary to pay my last respect for the fallen cop.

I found out it was too early as his remains are still on their way to the camp. However, dozens of uniformed policemen, many of them his colleagues and classmates were already there standing shoulder-to-shoulder. It was really a powerful show of support from the PNP-AKG and other Camp Crame-based police officers and men.

What his family needs now is for the public and the rest of the media to offer their respect and admiration too for the slain cop. The country must know that we have another policeman who has died in the line of duty.

T’was really another sad day for the PNP in general and Lt. Gen. Danao and Brig. Gen. Danao in particular. Lt. Gen. Danao really could not hide his emotion when he talked to the family of Pat. Lingayo.

“We grieve for another policeman killed in the performance of duty. He may not be with us anymore but rest be assured that his memory will not be forgotten,” said the top cop when he visited the wake of the fallen and gave him a posthumous PNP medal for bravery.

Indeed, the PNP is mourning the death of another policeman ‘who really risked his life to help fight kidnappers in the country. “The whole PNP organization mourns the loss of our comrade who displayed bravery and gallantry and offered the supreme sacrifice in the line of duty,” Lt. Gen. Danao said.

The PNP-OIC really was hurting since last Saturday alone, he visited the wake of Staff Sergeant Nikki Codera, the Bicol policeman who was killed in a gunbattle with a wanted New People’s Army rebel in Pasay City on Friday dawn. On Tuesday, Pat. Lingayo’s parents received financial assistance from Lt. Gen. Danao, the PNP-AKG leadership and other benefits from the Public Safety Mutual Benefit Fund, Inc. His other benefits that will come from the Office of the President, the PNP Special Financial Assistance and Napolcom fund and the PSSLAI are being processed by the PNP-AKG as of press time, I was told.

The 24-year old Lingayo joined the PNP-AKG in 2019 becoming one of its first recruits. Brig. Gen. Dimas remembered Lingayo as a hardworking anti-kidnapping agent who was not afraid to take the risk in order to fulfill his sworn duty to fight kidnappers in the country.

Before he left the Camp Crame Mortuary, Lt. Gen. Danao briefly talked with us to express his sentiment over the death of his two men in the hands of armed and defiant criminals. “Pat. Lingayo is one of the many policemen who have offered their lives in the line of duty although not many have remembered their sacrifices,” the PNP-OIC said while trying hard to control his tears.

He also called on the country and wished that the media in particular will not forget the heroism of these fallen policemen and even for a day or too make it a point to focus on their sacrifices and the families they have left just like the way many Filipinos would turn a simple act, a picture or a video into a viral Facebook post.

Lt. Gen. Danao told me he is sad because he thought Pat. Lingayo would survive his wounds when he visited him in his hospital bed. I learned that the cop was already responding to instructions from doctors and would even raise his thumb to say he would be okay during the first few days in the hospital.

A bullet penetrated the policeman’s abdomen and shattered his kidney and liver. For 13 days, doctors in a Pasig hospital gave their best to save the victim. However, after 13 days, the PNP-AKG operative passed away.

So that the country will remember, Pa. Lingayo was one of the PNP-AKG agents who engaged the two kidnappers in a gunfight in Pililla, Rizal. However, one of the suspects managed to shoot the victim before he and his cohort were gunned down.

The top cop earlier commended the PNP-AKG for a job well done in rescuing two kidnapping-for-ransom victims and launching the follow-up operation that left the two armed suspects dead in Pililla, Rizal last June 14.

PNP-AKG operatives launched a series of operations that led in the safe recovery of the two cousins-victims, both Filipino-Chinese nationals 10 days after they were abducted in Tondo, Manila. According to Brig. Gen. Dimas, the kidnappers demanded a P100 million ransom for the safe release of the victims whom he described as a 21-year old student and a 34-year old businessman.

Lt. Gen. Danao said that the timely report of the victims’ families to the police allowed the PNP-AKG under Dimas to take immediate action on the case in order to secure the safe release of the two hostages. Following the safe rescue of the two victims, the Movement for the Restoration of Peace and Order chaired by Architect Ka Kuen Chua congratulated the PNP-AKG ‘for the safe return of the two victims to their families.’

It turned out that the victims identified only as ‘Mark and Maurice’ were kidnapped by four armed men who were on board a Honda CRV and a motorcycle along San Rafael Village in Tondo, Manila last June 3.

The car used during the actual kidnapping and the ransom payoff turned out to have been stolen in 1997. Brig. Gen. Dimas said that the slain driver of the recovered Honda CRV with plate no. XJC 170 was identified as one Jerameel Ventura while his cohort was one Rolly Reyes Castillo.

Pat. Lingayo was immediately shot in the abdomen by one of the two suspects as he and his colleagues were rushing in to arrest them. Other officers returned fire killing both suspects on the spot. The suspects yielded a caliber .45 pistol, a 9mm pistol and an Ingram machine pistol.

Before Lingayo died, Lt. Gen. Danao has commended the PNP-AKG for another job well done in the fight against kidnapping-for-ransom gangs.“We have seen the effort of PNP-AKG, actually it’s a 10-day ordeal, walang tulog ang mga tao pero naging successful ang operation. Thus, I would like to commend the PNP-AKG headed by Brig. Gen. Dimas for a job well done Buwis-buhay po talaga sila,” he said. Those words, it would turn out, were really meant for Pat. Lingayo.

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