Pasay cop saw death coming, but stood by duty

By Abigail Kwok
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 13:39:00 01/07/2011

MANILA, Philippines – In the final moments that Senior Inspector Renato Apolinario lay on the ground, watching his gunman point a gun to his face, all he could do was pray.

Already suffering from gunshot wounds on different parts of the body, a helpless Apolinario readied for death that fateful day of December 20 as he heard one of the suspects say, "Tapusin mo na yan (Finish him off)."

"Everything happened so fast. I just prayed," Apolinario said.

And as he heard the last sounds of gun fire, he fainted.

"That was all I could remember. Now I'm alive and this is the best Christmas gift ever," a still weak Apolinario said in an interview in his Pasay City home.

Apolinario was the lone policeman who fought off armed men, some of whom were later identified as members of the Quezon City police, in F. B. Harrison Street days before Christmas.

Apolinario was just passing by the area to conduct a routine inspection of the motorcycle cops when he spotted a commotion.

"I saw one man holding a baby Armalite, hitting at the window of [Manjinder] Kumar's van," Apolinario narrated, referring to the Indian national who was the subject of a kidnap attempt.

"So I approached the scene and introduced myself as a policeman," he added.

Apolinario said one of the armed men on the scene responded to him and said, "Brod, pulis din kami [Brother, we are also policemen]."

However, when Apolinario tried to ask for identification, the man failed to show one.

It was at that point when Kumar alighted from his van and ran to Apolinario, seeking help.

"Kumar approached me and said, 'Don't give me to them. They are kidnappers,'" Apolinario recalled.

And then the shots started.

"I asked Kumar to run. I told him, 'You have to run. They will kill you,'" Apolinario said.

Apolinario was shot several times, hitting his vital organs including his kidney. A bullet also ripped through his chest and tore through his right earlobe.

But Apolinario was able to survive the ordeal. And as he recovers in his home, he said he was positive that it was Chief Inspector Edwin Faycho, Quezon City police's anti-narcotics chief, who was one of the men whom he accosted that day.

"I saw his interview on television and I started shivering. I told my wife, 'That's definitely the man,'" Apolinario said.

He said Faycho was holding a caliber .45 but was wearing civilian clothes.

"Let the courts decide on him. But I will testify against him," Apolinario said.

In his 31 years in the service, Apolinario described the event as his most difficult ordeal.

Apolinario, 53, was awarded the medal of merit and wounded personnel awarded by National Capital Region Police Office Director Nicanor Bartolome Friday for his heroic act.

Bartolome said Apolinario would also be promoted for his deeds, while his medical expenses would be shouldered by the Philippine National Police.

"What he did was a good example. He went beyond the call of duty," Bartolome said.


Source:

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/metro/view/20110107-313051/Pasay-cop-saw-death-coming-but-stood-by-duty