By Rhaydz B. Barcia
VIRAC, Catanduanes, Feb. 5 (PNA) — His body was mutilated but his bravery and will to fight until the last drop of his blood are very much etched on his face.
Senior Inspector Max Jim Tria, 27, and 43 other fellow commandos of the Philippine National Police -Special Action Force (PNP-SAF) were mercilessly killed in an open field in Barangay Tukanalipao, Mamasapano town in Maguindanao on Jan. 25 by members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
He was part of the blocking force.
Brig. Gen. Carlito Galvez, head of the government’s coordinating committee on the cessation of hostilities, said Tria was the last man standing in the combat zone.
Galvez, who expressed his anguish and admired Tria’s bravery, said the young Bicolano warrior-soldier was a tiger and he would rather die than surrender.
This characteristic of his was affirmed by his mistahs.
Tria could have still been living had he heeded his father’s advice of accepting and assuming the post of chief of police of a town in this province but he instead chose to return to the war-torn island of Mindanao to help finish lawless people so that others may live peacefully.
His father, Guillermo, a police senior inspector and officer-in-charge of the Provincial Internal Affairs Service of the Catanduanes Provincial Police Office, recalled that he asked his son during his visit in Sept. 1 last year not to return to Mindanao anymore as he could take the job as town chief of police in one of Catanduanes’ towns.
Tria, the second son in the family, had just celebrated his 27 birthday with relatives and friends here on Sept. 1.
Senior Supt. Ahdel Castilo, Catanduanes provincial police director, said had Tria accepted the post as town chief of police he could have still been alive but he opted to go back to Mindanao to serve the people there who are longing for peace.
Mac-mac, as he was fondly called by classmates at the Kaisang-Bisig Class 2009 of the Philippine National Police Academy, refused to accept the post as he wanted to return in his area of assignment to serve the people in the war-torn regions of Mindanao in pursuit of peace.
His tour of duty in Mindanao, according to his grieving mistahs, was over but he preferred to stay in the so-called “Land of Promise” to accomplish his mission to go after terrorists and other lawless elements of the society. Three of seven fallen PNP-SAF officials were mistahs — Tria, Police Senior Inspector (PSI) Gednat Tabdi and PSI Garry Erana, PNPA Class 2009 Baron.
The three were part of the PNP-SAF commandos who unfortunately lost their precious lives in the line of duty while on a mission to serve warrants of arrest to international terrorists Zulkifli bin Hir alias “Marwan” and Basit Usman, with USD 6-million bounty on their heads.
PSI Sheena Sevilla Guzman, current chief of police of Canaman town in Camarines Sur, a classmate and spokesperson of the PNPA Kaisang-Bisig Class 2009, said Tria was courageous, brave, a fighter, intelligent and yet reserved.
“He fought until his last breath, until the last drop of his blood based on his facial expression. This was his personality. He would continue fighting until the end,” Guzman said.
She said that undergoing SAF commando training requires physical, mental and emotional toughness.
“Whenever there is a conflict they’re sent to a mission anytime, anywhere and they can’t go home easily, unlike the other cops assigned in regional police headquarters or police stations,” the lady police official claimed.
Tria, aside from being intelligent, according to her, was trained and underwent the Army’s Scout Ranger training course.
He was the commandos’ topnotch sniper.
Tria and the 43 other fallen PNP-SAF commandos were sent to Mindanao for “Oplan Wolverine,” whose mission is to get Marwan, a terrorist bomb expert from Indonesia and leader of the Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia or the Malaysian Mujahideen Movement allied with Jemaah Islamiyah.
Marwan was United States and FBI’s most wanted man with a bounty of USD 5 million on his head, dead or alive.
Unfortunately the 44 PNP-SAF commandos were slaughtered by the MILF and BIFF elements reportedly harboring the terrorists.
Tria’s 304 mistahs shove their heads as they seek justice for their fallen brother-in-arms, aside from anguish.
They are clamoring for justice and asking the President to shelve the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law and punish the BIFF and MILF for their grave offense.
The carnage of 44 fallen PNP-SAF heroes is unacceptable to the men in uniform and to the Filipino people, they claimed.
Tria’s body will be laid to rest here on Saturday. (PNA)