Bemadalled cop named Outstanding Policeman
BAYAMBANG—“It was like a movie scene.”
This is how Police Officer 3 Eduardo de Guzman Santiago remembers the day when, off duty and simply on his way home to his family in this town, he rescued two children from a hostage-taker inside a passenger bus, an incident where he sustained seven stab wounds.
“I thought I would die,” Santiago narrates.
But he survived the injuries, lives to tell the tale and reaps rewards for his bravery and shining example of the police’s maxim “to serve and protect”.
Santiago has been named among the 10 of the Country’s Outstanding Policemen in Service or COPS for 2012 by the Metrobank Foundation, Inc.
Santiago, 35, married from Barangay Languiran here and assigned at the local police station, was among those presented on July 30 with the Medalya ng Katangi-tanging Gawa, pinned by Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Director General Nicanor Bartolome in Camp Crame.
He previously received a certificate and a plaque from the National Police Commission awarded by Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo while Camp Crame also awrded him the Medalya ng Kadakilaan and Medalya ng Sugatang Magiting on June 6, 2011.
HOSTAGE CRISIS
On May 30, 2011, Santiago boarded a Five Star Bus from Cubao in Quezon City to go home.
When they reached Dau, Mabalacat, Pampanga traversing the North Luzon Expressway near the end of the Apalit Bridge at 12:41 p.m., he and the bus driver noticed that another Five Star bus pulled over along the emergency bay that prompted the driver to pull over to picked up the unloaded passengers.
Unknown to them, there was already an ongoing hostage crisis situation in the other bus.
Responding to the situation, Santiago negotiated with the hostage taker and acceded to the latter’s request that a driver and he bring the hostage taker to Sto. Domingo.
By then, police back up were already preparing to respond.
The hostage taker panicked after sensing the presence of a responding police blockade along the way and a brief chase ensued.
Angry, the hostage taker stabbed Santiago several times but the young policeman managed to fight back through hand-to-hand combat while the bus was running until it collided with a quarry truck.
This threw the suspect off balance and Santiago took the opportunity to draw his service firearm with his wounded arm and shot the suspect, who died on the spot.
HARD START
Santiago said the P300,000 cash prize he would get from Metrobank would be a big help to his family as he plans to partly invest the money in farming, which he works on when out of duty.
“When you do good, you can feel that God will reward you,” said Santiago who was born to a poor family.
To help himself get through college, he sold snails and worked in an aunt’s house feeding pigs and doing other errands in exchange for free board and lodging.
Four commissioned officers made it to the COPS list: Police Superintendent Belli B. Tamayo (Quezon City); Police Chief Inspector Vicente S. Cabatingan (Laguna) Police Senior Inspector CharityS. Galvez (Butuan City) and Police Superintendent Bernard M. Banac (Quezon City).
The other awardees are six non-commissioned officers: Senior Police Officer 3 Renjun O. Bagaman (Koronadal City); Senior Police Officer 3 Rhia B. Sotomil (Iloilo), Police Officer 3 Mary Jane B. Perez (Cotobato City); Senior Police Officer 4 Ma. Rosario Y. Suarez (Davao City); and Senior Police Officer Robert U. Fabregas (Quezon City).
The awardees will be feted together with the winners of the Search for Outstanding Teachers (SOT) and the Search for The Outstanding Philippine Soldiers (TOPS) dubbed as the Metrobank Foundation Outstanding Filipinos on September 5 this year during Metrobank’s 50th Anniversary celebration. —Eva Visperas
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