During the Regular Session held on February 2, 2015, Resolution No. SP-6203, S-2015 was adopted by the Quezon City 19th City Council expressing the highest form of commendation to the forty-four officers and personnel of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force (PNP SAF), dubbed as the “Fallen 44,” who were killed in combat in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.
Introduced by Councilors Eufemio C. Lagumbay, Jesus Manuel C. Suntay, Victor V. Ferrer, Jr., and Godofredo T. Liban II, the principal proponent requested for suspension of internal rules citing the timeliness and importance of the measure. Councilor Lagumbay likewise manifested that all the members of the present Council be made as co-introducers.
On the fateful Sunday morning of January 25, 2015, some of the 392 PNP SAF officers entered the territory of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) to serve arrest warrants to two international terrorists, Malaysian Jemaah Islamiyah leader Zulkifli Abdhir, also known as Marwan, and Filipino bomb maker, Abdulbasit Usman.
When the SAF’s 84th Seaborn Battalion, the elite force’s best of the best, had already neutralized “Mike one” – their code for Marwan – and was attempting their exit at around 7 am, the 55th company of the 5th action battalion was assaulted by BIFF. Several hours after, the valiant forty-four troopers were slain in the line of duty.
Councilor Dorothy A. Delarmente expressed support for the said measure and informed the body that she had filed, together with other City Councilors, a related Resolution to give financial assistance to the bereaved families of the policemen.
President Benigno Simeon Aquino III declared January 30, 2015 as the National Day of Mourning to honor the fallen officers, pursuant to Proclamation No. 953, series of 2015. |