Special Forces soldiers in law enforcement? Or just reinforcing a classmate?

It is troubling enough that Philippine Army soldiers had to deploy in support of police forces on January 6th, that dreadful day in Atimonan, Quezon. It is more disturbing that elite Special Forces troops, 25 or so of them, had to be in that checkpoint and get entangled in what is now coming out to be an intended ambush that resulted in a massacre of 13 - including soldiers and policement themselves who may never could have foreseen they would suffer such a fate while just "moonlighting" in some obscure security consulting job our there in Bicol.

Wasted lives, wasted honor

Full-automatic fire from the rifles of police intelligence and army special forces operators snuffed the lives of 13 men that fateful Sunday afternoon on Maharlika Highway, near the wooded boundary of Atimonan and Plaridel, Quezon. From the initial reports of the PNP fact-finding team, some 41 policemen and soldiers were deployed around that checkpoint at Barangay Lumutan. Of the 16 PNP personnel, only one was in uniform, the rest in civilian clothing. The army soldiers, 25 special forces operators all of them, were in their BDU’s (battle dress uniforms), standard for operations in that kind of environment. If all these men fired their weapons, they would all be responsible for the killing of these 13 individuals – some of whom later on were  identified as fellow policemen and fellow soldiers.

Why did it happen?

What happened in Barangay Lumutan?

Another "shootout" in Quezon Province. 13 killed, 11 of them on the spot, the two others dying while being taken to a hospital. The place was a joint police-military checkpoint near the Plaridel poblacion, and the time was broad daylight, around 3:30 p.m.

This morning, CALABARZON police confirmed one of those killed was Police Supt. Alfredo P. Consemino, member of PNPA Class 1986, and just recently commander of the Regional HQS Support Group within the MIMAROPA regional police HQS. His name also cropped up as one of the nominees for a party-list group called ACTS OFW, which COMELEC earlier said did not have the proper credentials to represent OFW's and therefore could not participate in the elections in May.