Nearly P2 million worth of financial assistance have been released for the relatives of the eight policemen who were killed in an ambush perpetrated by communist rebels in Catarman, Samar, a police official said yesterday.

Chief Supt. Ray Lañada, chief of the PNP Directorate for Comptrollership, said P1.248 million of the financial assistance came from the PNP while a total of P577,460.75 came from the Public Safety Mutual Benefit Fund INC. (PSMBFI).

Lañada said the financial package is on top of the regular benefits accorded to PNP members who died in the line of duty, adding that such benefits are yet to be released.
“All claims for death benefits, educational and financial assistance for dependents, and other compensation will be released as soon as all accounting and auditing requirements are completed,” said Lañada.

It was recalled that on August 21, an eight-man team led by Senior Inspector Nicasio San Antonio, deputy chief of police of Catarman town, was allegedly ambushed by more or less 50 communist rebels in Barangay Imelda.

The cops were responding to the alleged assassination of a local official of Barangay Imelda who was also executed by the rebels three hours after the ambush.

But the PNP leadership condemned the attack, saying San Antonio and some of the policemen died on the spot while the rest were seriously wounded due to two landmine blasts.

“The landmine blast completely destroyed the vehicle and injured the policemen on board. According to witnesses, some 40 members of the Efren Martires Command the CPP/NPA (Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army) swarmed at the blast site and mercilessly executed the seriously wounded policemen,” said Chief Supt. Arnold Revilla, director of the Eastern Visayas Police.

The merciless execution, Revilla added, were backed up by autopsy reports indicating that some of the victims were shot in the head at close range. “The victims were also looted of their equipment and valuables such as jewelry, cellphones, wallets, clothes and other personal effects,” said Revilla.

Seven of the eight slain policemen were laid to rest in a hero’s burial with full state honors in Catarman, on Thursday. San Antonio, on the other hand, was interred in his hometown in Buhi, Camarines Sur last Aug. 29.