LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The father of a junior official of the Philippine National Police – Special Action Force (PNP-SAF), who personally led the assault and striking force and cut the finger of slain Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan in his hideout in Mamasapano, Maguindanao two weeks ago, expressed fear that the Muslim bandits coddling the terrorist will avenge their loss by getting back at one of his sons training for the SAF commandos once assigned in Mindanao in the future.
Garcia Tabdi, Jr., father of the late Senior Inspector Gednat Tabdi, made an appeal to ranking PNP officials not to assign his son, Shagar Tabdi, who is undergoing training for the SAF commandos, in Mindanao because Muslim bandits will surely hunt him down as they all know that his late brother was the leader of the assault and striking force that killed Marwan inside his hideout before the bloody massacre that caused the death of 44 SAF commandos, including 15 from the Cordillera.
“We do not want our son Shagar to suffer the same fate as his younger brother because the Muslim bandits are out to avenge the loss of Marwan and that he will be one of the targets once he will be assigned in Mindanao after his training,” the older Tabdi stressed.
If the name of Senior Inspector Gednat was coined from the first letter of his father’s name, the full name of his mother Edna and the first letter of their family name, the name Shagar was coined from the reverse of his father’s name Garcia only that the letters Cia was spelled Sha.
Aside from Shagar Tabdi, Gednat’s two brothers, Rodgan and Alchin, are assigned to the Laguna and Pampanga police offices, respectively.
Garcia is an employee of the Benguet State University – Northern Philippines Rootcrops Research and Training Center while Edna is a strawberry farmer in the capital town.
“We always have the fear for the lives of our sons who opted to join the law enforcement profession because they were convinced by Gednat that the uniformed service is a noble profession since they are able to render genuine public service,” Tabdi said.
He added their family is slowly recovering from the untimely demise of their loved one and expressed gratitude to all those who continue to condole with them and seek justice for the 44 fallen warriors.
Even if Gednat was buried in Zamboanga upon the request of his wife Lea, Tabdi disclosed the family will continue to perform appropriate Ibaloi rituals in order to allow his spirit to leave the massacre site and instead join the Creator.
“Life must go on. We cannot afford to just be downed by the situation. It is true that it is difficult to have lost a loved one but we have to allow it to sink in for us to be able to move on,” Tabdi said.
He cited the family is proud of the accomplishment of Gednat being the leader of the assault and striking force team and that he was the one to personally cut the finger of Marwan which was used as an evidence to prove that the wanted terrorist was the one that the SAF members killed in the encounter in the remote village of Maguindanao.
