Ebdane nearly quit over kid’s rescue

Philippine National Police chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. nearly resigned last Sunday when a gunfight erupted between lawmen and the kidnappers of four-year-old Patricia Lopez Chung, a niece of ABS-CBN owner Gabby Lopez.

President Arroyo revealed yesterday that Ebdane seriously considered submitting a resignation letter at the start of a 40-minute gunfight that he thought would result in the death of the kidnap victim and her nanny.

"Jun (Ebdane) told me that when the firefight started, the police informant ran out but without the child he was supposed to secure," the President said, relating the story as told to her by Ebdane.

"Where’s the child?" Ebdane asked.

"Naiwan sa loob (Left inside)!" said the informant, one of the cohorts of gang leader Faisal Marohombsar, who was shooting from within the house where the hostages were being held.

"Naku, patay (Mother of mine, I’m dead)!" the President quoted Ebdane as telling her on the thought that the two victims could get killed in the crossfire.

"He already thought about the resignation letter he would submit to me," the President said. "But thank God the child and her nanny took cover when the firefight began and she was later extricated safely."

In that rescue operation, Marohombsar, who is believed to be behind a string of kidnappings in Mindanao over several years, was killed and two of his cohorts were arrested.

"It was really a double victory for us: the saving of the kidnap victim and the death of Marohombsar himself," the President said.

Speaking with reporters after she presented the latest batch of criminal suspects arrested during Ebdane’s two-month service as PNP chief, the President again lauded the police chief for his successes against criminal syndicates.

Mrs. Arroyo noted the PNP "is working well" as an organization as shown by the string of major arrests since she declared her all-out war policy against criminal syndicates.

"We have to fight on all these fronts against criminality and we have to have decisive victories on all these fronts," the President said.

"What happened in the rescue of Patricia Chung from the hands of Marohombsar and the crippling of one of the major terrorist groups (in the country) is a decisive victory," she added. — Marichu Villanueva