I’M referring to my friend, Brigadier General Luisito ‘Chito’ Magnaye , a member of Philippine Military Academy ‘Sambisig’ Class of 1991 who retired from the police force last Thursday after nearly 37-years of serving the country with distinction.

A former PNP Special Action Force deputy director, Chito was designated as PNP Health Service director last January 28 by former PNP chief, General Debold Sinas and was retained by our 26th PNP chief, Gen. Gilor Eleazar as head of the unit until his 56th birthday last September 9.

His mistahs from PMA Class 1991 told me shortly after his designation as PNP-HS director last January that Magnaye had transformed from being a ‘warrior to a doctor’ with his new position. It’s true because Magnaye is a known ‘operator’ who battled the New People’s Army and separatist insurgents in Mindanao and other parts of the country.

A former Zamboanga City police director, Magnaye is a graduate of Ranger, Airborne and Scuba Diving courses in the PNP who also briefly commanded the PNP Air Unit. He is a holder of dozens of medals, awards and other recognition for his service to the country, starting from the day he graduated from Fort del Pilar.

Chito also made history and some sort of record when he became the 1st PNP general to get the anti-COVID-19 vaccine last March 1, the 1st day of the national vaccine rollout which saw around 200 PNP health workers getting the 1st dose of the China-donated Sinovac vaccine.

After getting the jab, Magnaye talked with the media and said he was A-OK. “’Yung takot po wala po ‘yan dahil sa unang babakunahan, lalo ngayon meron tayong pandemic dahil magkakaroon ako ng proteksiyon sa katawan,” he said.

Gen. Eleazar, then the PNP Deputy Chief for Administration and concurrent commander of the Administrative Support for Joint Task Force COVID-19 actually got the much-needed support from Magnaye and his men in convincing majority of the police force to get the jab apart from securing the transport of the 1st batch of COVID-19 vaccines prior to their distribution to different end-users in Metro Manila.

Another friend, Brig. Gen. Antonino ‘CJ’ Cirujales, a silent and unassuming officer from PMA ‘Tanglaw-Diwa’ Class of 1992 replaced Magnaye at the PNP-HS which remains in the forefront of the PNP’s effort keep its personnel safe and secure from the deadly COVID-19 virus.

As they always say, ‘good things come to those wait’ and Cirujales will again be a fine example of a hardworking officer who finally gets rewarded by the PNP leadership due to his diligence and competence.

Actually, Cirujales has been with the PNP Directorate for Human Resource and Doctrine Development since 2020, serving as its Executive Officer and later Deputy Director until his designation as PNP-HS director.

As head of the PNP-HS, CJ will be commanding the unit whose men and women are acting as the PNP’s main ‘front-liners’ in addressing and preventing the further spread of COVID-19 in the force which has already registered 108 COVID-19 deaths while helping in the government’s massive vaccination program.

CJ has a tough job ahead specifically in seeing to it that there will be proper and adequate care for members of the police force who have contracted the virus including the more than 2,000 ‘active cases. So far, the police force has already recorded more than 35,000 C OVID-19 cases since March last year although nearly 33,000 of them have already recovered from the disease and are now back to full duty status.

On another note, I would also like to congratulate the four newly-promoted Police Brigadier Generals who were asked by Gen. Eleazar to fully lead their men in following the PNP’s Intensified Cleanliness Program.

The four new 1-star PNP generals are Brig. Gen. Oscar Nantes of the PNP Internal Affairs Service; Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza, the Deputy Regional Director for Administration of the Police Regional Office 6 in Western Visayas; Brig. Gen. Edwin Buenaventura Wagan, the Executive Officer of the PNP Directorate for Logistics; and Brig. Gen. Constancio Chinayog, the Executive Officer of the PNP Directorate for Personnel and Records Management.

The promotion of Brig. Gen. Wagan, a friend way back from the waning years of the now defunct PNP Narcotics Command and the three others came as the PNP Senior Officers Placement and Promotions Board continued evaluating candidates for a number of key PNP positions including four regional police offices set to be vacated soon with the forthcoming retirement of their directors.

Set to retire this coming September 15 is PNP Director for Operations, Major Gen. Alfred Corpus while PNP Director for Logistics, Maj. Gen. Angelito Casimiro will retire on October 2. PNP Director for Intelligence, Maj. Gen. Dennis Agustin will also retire this coming November 5 while PNP Civil Security Group director, Maj. Gen. Ferdie Daway will retire on November 1.

Others who will be retiring very soon are Brig. Gen. Daniel Mayoni of the PNP Information Communications and Technology Service (October 29); Police Regional Office 7 director, Brig. Gen. Ronnie Montejo (September 29); PRO6 director, Brig. Gen. Rolly Miranda (November 16); PRO9 director, Brig. Gen. Ronnie Ylagan (October 13); and Brig. Gen. Rolly Anduyan of PRO10 (November 25). Anduyan has been the PRO10 director in Northern Mindanao since October 29, 2019.

IATF, PUBLIC SHOULD TAKE NOTE OF HOW VIETNAM TREATS COVID-19 PROTOCOL VIOLATORS

FILIPINOS specifically owners of big businesses questioning the strict enforcement of minimum health safety protocols in the country by the police force to help prevent the further spread of COVID-19 should read this dispatch from several foreign news organizations. I also firmly suggest that the IATF and the PNP ask our courts to speedily act on cases of quarantine violators like what Vietnam courts have been doing.

“HANOI — A Vietnamese man has been sentenced to five years in jail for spreading Covid-19 after he breached home quarantine rules.

Le Van Tri was convicted of “spreading dangerous infectious diseases to other people” after he travelled to his home province Ca Mau from coronavirus hotspot Ho Chi Minh City in July, according to a report on the website of the provincial People’s Court.’

“The 28-year old was accused of breaching a 21-day home quarantine regulation in the southern province, which had a lower case rate than Ho Chi Minh City, and he tested positive for Covid-19 on July 7.

“Tri’s breach of the home medical quarantine regulation led to many people becoming infected with Covid-19 and one person died on 7 August 2021,” according to the court report. State media said eight people became infected because of Tri.

“After keeping case numbers low last year, Vietnam is now dealing with its most serious COVID-19 outbreak so far, with nearly 540,000 infections and more than 13,000 deaths recorded.”

“The vast majority of infections and deaths have been reported since the end of April, and Vietnam’s capital Hanoi and commercial hub Ho Chi Minh city have been in strict lockdown for most of the past few months.”

“Several people have been sentenced for spreading Covid-19 to others in Vietnam. A 32-year old man in Hai Duong was sentenced to 18 months in prison in July and a Vietnam Airlines flight attendant was handed a two-year suspended jail term in March for the same charge.”