Charity Galvez grew up in the municipality of San Francisco, or as locals usually call it, San Franz, in the province of Agusan del Sur. Like most members of her Bisaya ethnicity, or those of means anyway, she was afforded a parochial education. In the late-1970s/early-1980s that meant boarding at Father Saturnino Urios College in Northeast Mindanao's largest population centre, Butuan City, in Agusan del Norte Province. Moving onto university Charity pursued, and gained, a degree in Education, realising her chilhood dream to teach and help others. Returning to her alma mater, Father Urios, Charity spent 8 years teaching young people.
Along the way Ms.Galvez ended up marrying her childhood sweetheart who had himself gained a job with the San Franz city government, ensuring that the town's municipal water supply remained safe and secure. With encouragement from her husband Ms.Galvez returned to university part time where she pursued a newly developed but avid interest in Criminology. By 2000 Charity had decided to change direction career wise and applied with the PNP, or Philippine National Police, hoping to be able to use her credentials in one capacity or another. In 2002 Ms. Galvez was given that chance when the PNP hired her as a technician and deployed her to the Agusan del Sur PPO, or Police Provincial Office in the provincial capital of Prosperidad.
By 2008 the highly determined woman wanted more and was able to take advantage of the PNP's Lateral Entry programme that affords PNP personnel the opportunity to laterally transfer departments while retaining accrued sniority and/or rank. This enabled Ms.Galvez to quickly rise to the PNP's second highest field rank, Inspector. Assigned to investigate criminal incidents throughout the province she was recognised as an able and dedicated officer. In April of 2011, just after returning to duty after giving birth the month before, she was named Chief of the Trento MPO, or Municipal Police Office. It was seen as a natural fit seeing as how the town of Trento sits immediately south of her hometown, San Franz.
Given a fifteen man garrison situated in the town's municipal compound in Barangay Poblacion she dove right into the thick of things by directing her force to construct fire positions throughout the compound, especially a large pile of tyres to the left of the MPO building, the compound's most vulnerable position. With an NPA attack on the Panabo City City Police Office having just taken place on March 20th Inspector Chief Galvez knew she needed to take a proactive stance. How much more so when on April 28th, just after having assumed command, another NPA attack against an MPO/CPO took place. Though the attack in the municipality of Lianga, in the adjoining province of Surigao del Sur had been unsuccessful, the first one, in nearby Panabo City, ended with the NPA overrunning that municipality's garrison resulting in the NPA capturing weapons and breaking morale. Moreover, that town's police force was decimated by PNP brass with noone suffering more than the Panabo City Chief of Police vis a vis the principle of Command Responsibility being first and foremost when the heads began to roll.
Hiring a yaya, or nanny, Chief Galvez began bringing her infant daughter (and yaya) to work where the three shared Chief Galvez's cramped corner office as a sort of home away from home. On July 30th, 2011 the three had once again settled in for a night's sleep. It had been an incredibly hectic day for Ms.Galvez. The Provincial Chief of Police had finally granted her long standing request for reinforcements and had deployed two teams from Agusan del Sur's PPSCs, or Police Public Safety Companies. The municipality's southern sectors were badly in need of men to handle the rampant illegal logging trade. Aside from the violence that goes hand in hand with any illicit trade the NPA had attacked a logging checkpoint in Trento's Barangay Pulang Lupa. Killing three men the guerillas also captured two police officers. Though the attack took place on February 1st, two months before Chief Galvez assumed command, it was a surefire reminder of the municipality - and her job's vulnerabilities.
At 330AM, July 31st, a police sentry noticed 3 Isuzu Forward trucks drive slowly into the centre of town and park at 3 strategic points. Recognising that something was wrong he alerted fellow officers but before any of them could take appropriate action M203 rifle grenades began hitting inside the compound. The 40 guerillas from Front 3 (Alejandro Lenaja Command, Southern Mindanao Regional Committee or SMRC) and Front 20 (Conrado Heredia Command, SMRC) had taken up positions around the compound's perimeter and in an unusual touch, employed an M60 whose massive rounds began pockmarking the facade of the station itself.
Awoken from her fitful sleep Inspector Chief Galvez quickly ushered her yaya and infant daughter into a small closet at the rear of her office. She then grabbed an M16 and attempted to take a position at the station's front door in between each massive barrage from the NPA's M60. Bolstered by the two PPSC teams that had been deployed to her garrison just the afternoon before Inspector Galvez was able to stave off the assault while only losing one man and two officers suffering only moderate wounds. The lone fatality, Salvador Ralla Jr. of Trento, was the station's gofer. Each MPO, or CPO in the case of cities, unofficially employs at least one local civilian as a general helper and an errand boy. Mr.Ralla was killed after engaging the attackers with an M16. Unable to overun the compound the NPA guerillas split into small groups and withdrew in different directions, in the trucks which were abandoned a short distance from the town centre. Then, still in 3 groups, the NPA withdrew into the Diwata Mountains towards the northeast.
The two wounded police officers, a PO1 with the newly deployed PPSC teams and a PO3 with the MPO were bundled into a PNP van and rushed north for the long 120 kilometer ride to Butuan City for treatment. However, as the van reached Manat Bridge, or Crossing Manat as it is known locally, an NPA detachment serving as a Blocking Force detonated an IED (Improvised Explosive Device, as in "bomb") in an ambush. The van was untouched by the explosion and quickly sped away unscathed, continuing on to Butuan City. Likewise, not long after an Armed Forces of the Philippines, or AFP truck from the 75IB (Infantry Battalion) ALSO averted catastrophe from a second IED detonation on the opposite end of the bridge as it rushed into Trento to reinforce the MPO. Like the first attempted ambush the latter incident failed to incur any casualties or damage.
Unfortunately, a second NPA detachment, part of an estimated 200 man force positioned strategically around the town's main entrances managed to launch a more successful ambush. Serving as a Blocking Force near that aforementioned logging checkpoint in Barangay Pulang Lupa, it ambushed a truck carrying CAFGU CAAs into town as reinforcements. CAFGU, or Civilian Auxiliary Force Geographical Unit is the cornerstone of the AFP's COIN, or Counterinsurgency programme. A military reserve unit under the command of a cadre battalion from the AFP, it is restricted to operating within a certain municipality wherein all soldiers serving in it reside. CAFGU soldiers are known as CAAs, or Civilian Active Auxiliaries. In this case the CAFGU detachment in question was from the adjoining municipality of Santa Josefa. As the truck carrying the CAAs sped through Pulang Lupa the NPA iniated a barrage of rifle fire that killed one CAA, Vergilio Perocho.
In clearing the town centre the 75IB recovered an abandoned utility van used by one of the NPA Blocking Force detachments, but nothing more. As usual the NPA managed to avoid hundreds of "pursuing" soldiers, police officers, and CAAs. The next day, August 1st, 2 gunshot victims entered Bislig District Hospital in Bislig City, in Surigao del Sur Province, nearly 90 kilometers from the Trento municipal compound. Bislig City's CPO arrested both men:
1) Sammy Calibayan, age 35, of Barangay La Fortuna in the municipality of Veruela, in Agusan del Sur Province
2) Ricky M. Salde, age 28, from the municipality of New Bataan in Compostela Valley, or Comval Province.
In a weak attempt to protect co-operating hospital personnel the PNP claims that a vigiliant civilian sent an SMS (text message) concerning the two gunshot victims. Taking both men from the hospital the officers transported the two suspects to CPO Headquarters where both reportedly admitted having taken part in the attack in Trento. Of course such admissions hold absolutely no value. To offer a tad bit of perspective, in a recent incident I will be posting about a bit later, a suspected Abu Sayyaf guerilla was nabbed by AFP Intelligence agents in Basilan Province. To gain HIS admission they chained him spread eagled and naked. Then using a 1 liter glass cola bottle they gave the man a gasoline enema. As if that wasn't enough they then used an oxy-acetylene torch on the suspect's genitals and face. Even worse, this took place BEFORE the encounter on Jolo Island that killed seven AFP Marines, two of whom were then decapitated. Again, an incident I will cover soon.
On Monday, August 8th, the PNP held its 110th Anniversary Celebration at its headquarters in Metro Manila's Camp Crame. Inspector Chief Galvez was on hand to join in the festivities. Indeed, she was the focal point of the celebration as President Aquino awarded her the PNP's highest decoration, the Medal for Bravery for "conspicuous courage and gallantry in action." In addition, while at the podium, the President turned to Secretary Jesse Robredo of the DILG and asked him why he hadn't also promoted Ms.Galvez. The DILG, or Department of the Interior and Local Government is the branch under which the PNP serves. By the end of the President's remarks Inspector Chief Galvez had evolved into Senior Inspector Chief Galvez, having obtained the PNP's highest field rank in just three years of actual service.
That same day, Monday, August 8th, the AFP began a major push against the NPA in and around Trento. Using two MG520 helicopter gunships with two Hueys on site the 75IB led the way. Unfortunately a corporal from the 26IB and a CAA from the Bagani Force were both killed:
1) Corporal Antonio Manser T.Morgadez, Cadre Officer, 26IB
2) CAA Ricky Lantong, Bagani Force, aged 40 and a resident of Barangay Kasapa in the municipality of La Paz in Agusan del Sur Province
The two fatalities took place at Sitio Kilometer 2 in the municipality of Loreto's Barangay Binocayan when a Bagani Force detachment under Datu Dario "Malampuson" Otaza with cadre officer Corporal Morgadez commanding stumbled across an NPA detachment from Front 34 (Davao-Agusan Command, Northeastern Mindanao Regional Committee, or NEMRC) at 7AM. The subsequent firefight lasted until 9AM and resumed again at 5PM after a second chance encounter before petering out just after 10PM that same night. The AFP has been proudly declaring that it killed 13 NPA guerillas between those two engagements but of course they haven't recovered a single body.
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