The Philippine National Police’s (PNP) first twin generals – Directors Ray (left) and Ronald Roderos – are honored during retirement rites early this month in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

It was supposed to be a gloomy event as they bid farewell to the law enforcement duty after 39 years of service. But these two general brothers made it a point that it will not be the case for them as they successfully turned their retirement honors into a virtual comedy show that left even the national police’s top brass laughing at the top of their lungs.

Aside from flurry of punch lines which they successfully delivered, what made the Tuesday’s ceremony at Camp Crame in Quezon City for Police Directors Ray and Ronald Roderos unforgettable is that it was the first time, and probably the last, that the Philippine National Police (PNP) held retirement honors for identical twin two-star generals.

“The younger brother of my classmate is ready,” said Ronald when he was about to be retired by his replacement at the PNP-Directorate for Police-Community Relations (DPCR), drawing laughter from the audience.

By classmate, Ronald is referring to his being a classmate of his twin brother at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Makabayan Class of 1975.

Police officials and other visitors were actually treated into a Tuesday afternoon delight before the start of the ceremony since the tarpaulin printing for the Roderos brothers bore words that read “Two Good Men,” copying the Hollywood film poster and the pose of the lead actor of the “A Few Good Men.”

Only that there were two Tom Cruises in uniform on the streamer, one for Ray and the other for Ronald.

“That is typical of them, they always come up with funny things,” said Director General Jesus Verzosa, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), who presided the ceremony.

“They are kindhearted by nature even during our cadet days, they always made us laugh, they are really jolly persons,” he added.

This was echoed by Chief Supt. Leonardo Espina, PNP spokesman, who narrated that during one of the tapings for a police television show, the two said they are product of one sperm and one egg cell when they were introduced as twins.

“It made us laugh, that was really an entertaining way to start the program,” said Espina.

Aside from being funny, Verzosa said he had nothing to say against the two brothers, even praising them for doing their best for the PNP’s Integrated Transformation Program.

“The Roderos twins served the PNP very well, they have been instrumental in pushing forward operational thrusts of the PNP, pushing forward the activities of the ITP and pushing forward the image-building activities of the PNP,” said Verzosa.

“They have been active in the overall, they have looked up to their services as means of solidifying the institution not for their personal or career interests but also for institutional development,” he added.

First in the world
During his farewell speech as commander of the Directorate for Integrated Police Operations-Visayas, Ray proudly stated that they are the first twin generals in the history of the Philippine uniformed service, drawing applause from the crowd.

“This is what makes this ceremony a unique one, the retirement of first twin generals in the country and probably in the world,” said Ray in Filipino.

This was echoed by his brother Ronald who even boasted that the presence of a van that shows live video footage of the ceremony also served as another reason that made their retirement honors unique, drawing applause from the audience because of the fact that the van came from the DPCR.

When he started his speech, all those present have started to chuckle, believing that he was just translating to English the Tagalog speech of his brother.

“As far as I know, they are first in the world. If there were others, then they are the first to retire on the same day with a two-star rank,” said Verzosa.

The peculiarity of their situation was even recognized abroad, when they became instantly popular and crowd-drawer when they attended the gatherings of morethan 1,000 pairs of twins in Twinsburg City in Ohio, USA last year.

Clad in PNP uniform, all eyes were on them as they join the parade in the city proper.

Two-way race to Number 1
In his speech, Ronald said it was always a battle between him and his brother during their school days at the Bicol Teachers College Laboratory School in Legazpi City.

But Ronald conceded that it was Ray who always landed first from Grade 1 to Grade 5, with him being contented for second honors.

“In Grade 6, our father was told by one of the teachers: ‘Joe, there is no tie for the place of valedictorian. We have to break the tie,’” said Ronald.

He narrated that his father went home and informed their “Mamang” about the problem.

To which their mother replied “There’s no problem. We will break that on the basis of seniority.”

“Since I am 20 minutes younger, the result is that Ray was the valedictorian, I was the salutatorian,” Ronald narrated, adding that it went through until their high school days at the Albay Teachers College, also in Legazpi City – with the same ranking result.

Ronald later conceded that his brother is more intelligence than him, as proven when he landed 5th in the PMA while he was contented on the number 14 spot.

This was further proven, he said, when Ray topped the intelligence course abroad.

“I was the second fiddle, the late comer and also the late bloomer... Ray married two years ahead of me, Ray got his second star two years ahead of me, Ray got his second star one year ahead of me,” said Ronald, as he stressed that it was never an issue for them.

But he stressed that he too became number one, when he topped the National Police Commission (NAPOLCOM) examination several years ago, drawing chuckles and applause from the audience.

It runs in the family
Ray, for his part, said that they decided to join the PMA to avail of free education that would unburden their parents of educational expenses.

“But it was just one of the reasons, we were encouraged to join PMA because we were fascinated by the cadets in uniform who visited and recruited us in high school. We were also encouraged by the fact that my uncle was US Navy serviceman while my father was a member of a member of the US Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) during the World War II,” said Ray.

Ronald, on the other hand, disclosed that they took the PMA exam secretly and only told their parents when they were informed that they passed.

“My mother did not cry but we found out later that she cried a lot after we left to Fort De Pilar in Baguio City. She was very concerned because we are just then 16 years old and she was not sure if we can make it away from the family,” said Ronald.

Both Ronald and Ray said that they were not able to attend the high graduation because they were asked to go to Baguio City more than 20 days before their scheduled graduation.

But Ronald disclosed that it was him who actually recruited Victor Ibrado to the PMA when they met at the National Secondary Press Conference in Cebu City.

“He was not interested then but I was surprised later when I saw him at the PMA a year later. I now tell him that if it were not for me, he would have not been the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” said Ronald.

He, however, said that they were actually planning then not to return to the PMA due to the hardships they experienced during the first few days of screening.

“We are thankful to our commandant then that he did not allow us to return to attend the graduation. Because if he allowed us, our plan is not to return and go instead to UP (University of the Philippines). We also passed the exam there,” said Ray.

After their graduation, both were commissioned to the Philippine Constabulary (PC) as second lieutenant and were both assigned to Sulu.

Asked if they are the only twins in the family, Ronald said “It actually runs in the family, we are the 10th set of twins from both the Dulay and Roderos families.”

Close to being separated
Ronald also disclosed that the closest incident that they would be separated was when he was asked to join the Philippine contingent to Rwanda.

But he said that he decided to turn down the offer.

“That was a good decision, because six months later, a civil war broke out that left more than 700 people dead in Rwanda,” he said.

Ray, for his part, said it was also their decision to both join the Philippine National Police when it was established in 1991.

Since then, they were seemingly un-separable, getting the same police posts one after another.

Ronald also disclosed that even President Arroyo was fascinated by their situation.

“It’s history,” Ronald quoted Mrs. Arroyo when they met with their commander-in-chief a few years ago.

He then revealed why they finally reached the last position that they held in the PNP.

Ronald disclosed that it was President Arroyo who posted him to the top DPCR post.

He was then about to be assigned to the Directorate for Research and Development and is already in doubt if he would ever get his second star.

Calling the President’s decision as a “Solomonic one,” Ronald said that he was then ordered by the President to swap position with Ray who was already a two-star general.

The rest, he said, is history as they both bowed out of police service on Tuesday with the rank of Police Directors after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 56.