Cop killed in Lanao encounter given hero’s burial
CORPORAL Jan Oliver Rodriguez, a member of the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force (PNP-SAF) who was killed during an encounter in Lanao Del Norte, was given a hero’s burial by the municipal government of Lingayen, his hometown.
His remains arrived at his home in Barangay Quibaol on May 9.
Rodriguez died during the implementation of the arrest warrant against a certain Naen Ampatua Tumog for violation of Republic Act 10591 or the Comprehensive Law on Firearms and Ammunition at dawn on Saturday.
Lingayen Mayor Leopoldo Bataoil, a former police official, directed the hero’s burial to Rodriguez to honor his heroism and bravery.
“Rodriguez, like other policemen who stood by their duties to serve and to protect the Filipino citizens, deserves to be given a hero’s burial,” Pangasinan Police Provincial Office information officer Maj. Arturo Melchor II said.. A hero’s burial is deserved by police who died in the line of his duty, he added.
Rodriguez was laid to rest on Thursday, May 13 at the Lingayen Heritage Park.
President Rodrigo Duterte, Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año, PNP chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, and Maj. Gen. Bernabe Balba, former Special Action Force (SAF) director and now the new chief of the Directorate for Integrated Police Operations (DIPO) in the Visayas, conveyed their condolences with flowers.
Rodriguez, 25, the third and only son among five siblings, joined the PNP-SAF service in 2018.
“He was a good person. He was loving even to other people, especially children. We were surprised to learn from other people that he was helping some people. But he never told us about it,” His mother, Erlinda, told the Philippine News Agency on Sunday.
“Because he was so reserved, we didn’t know that he has a girlfriend. He was planning to introduce her girlfriend to us when he arrives,” she added.
Days before the police operation, Rodriguez contacted his cousins and one of his sisters based abroad telling them that he was planning to surprise his family about his scheduled home vacation starting on May 15, his younger sister Jacqueline said. (Jerick Pasiliao/ Ahikam Pasion)
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