The Saga of Leopoldo Bataoil Continues

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

From chasing hardened Moro commanders in Mindanao and Basilan, this battle experienced military and police officer went back to his alma mater the Philippine Military Academy to mentor the cadets of what he learned in the skirmishes and warfare at the battle fronts.

“Ang first assignment ko was Mindanao 54^th PC Ranger Batallion kaso po ang inihanda talaga ng PMA upang maging effective front line leaders, platoon leaders po kami noong second lieutenant sa isang PC Ranger battalion kaagad-agad dinala doon sa Mindanao kaagad - agad dinala kami sa Basilan. At doon namin hinahabol si Chairman Nur Misuari at Chairman Gerry Salapudin. Ito ang mga leaders ng mga MNLF noong araw wala pa iyong MILF noong araw so MNLF ang kalaban ng gobyerno,” cited in Filipino by former three-  star police general and congressman Leopoldo Bataoil, PMA Class of 1976, to this writer.

Congressman Leopoldo Bataoil, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, rendered his snappiest salute to an old war veteran during a war anniversary.

He said as a Constabulary Ranger he idolized his commanders at the First and Second Ranger Battalions who even joined him and his men in the battle fields against the fiery Moro insurgents in the two islands in the Southern Philippines.

Bataoil was a trained member of the British inspired commando’s the elite Special Action Force.

“There were really true leaders and they were really very inspiring leaders na ang feeling namin they are the best example of.  I remember General Dictador Alquiza my First Battalion's commander . I remember Agerico Cagaoan my Second Battalion's commander in another battalion. They were really leaders na very inspiring na they talk to you the very critical area iyong mga battle area. They will die for you. Ang iyong feeling  namin he will die for our country and people all together we will die for our country and people”.

He cited one officer’s conspicuous bravery and extraordinary courage awed him. Glyxe Sua, Bataoil recounted, even asked his men to locate the sniper concealed behind the coconuts and the tree’s leaves  above sniping them.

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“Isang combat officer iyong nakasama namin sa Mindanao. Iyon ang parang walang kamatayan. Pinapahanap niya iyong Muslim rebel (sniper) at hindi mahanap ng sundalo niya iyong sniper “O, hintayin ninyong tatakbo ako sa niyog na ito. Titingnan ninyo kung saan mangagaling iyong putok. “Pakpakpakpakpak!” Tatanungin niya iyong mga tao “O, nakita ninyo kung saan iyong nag ee-snipe sa akin? Pakpakpakpakpak!” Hindi sir, sabi ng mga tao. Tatakbo na naman siya. “Oo sir nakita na namin po. “PAK!” Bagsak iyong sniper”.

Just like Douglas MacArthur (USMA 1903), General John J. Pershing (USMA 1886), President Donald Trump resigned National Security Adviser H.R or Herbert Raymond McMaster (USMA 1984) who returned from the battlegrounds and became Superintendents and History professor at the United States Military Academy,  Bataoil went to the Tactics Group at the PMA teaching cadets about war strategies where this writer could attest as he worked too in that office as a young civilian employee.

“For example after ng field assignments ko mga combat field duties ko sa critical na mga areas, ni assigned din ako sa training institution. At ang pinakaunang training institution na pinagdalhan sa akin, major po ako noon e ay sa PMA sa aking alma mater. So  I started as a senior tactical officer then I became as assistant commandant of the cadets. So I have the opportunity to share my combat experiences iyong aking leadership of management of troops sa field sa mga graduating cadets sa PMA”.

He said cadets at PMA look for role models among officers.

When he was a plebe at the PMA, his other idols were first class cadets or fourth year cadets Amado T. Espino, Jr. and Sua.

“Tulad po noong cadet ako ay ni ru-role model ko noon then cadet Amado T. Espino, Jr. kasi nagpanggabot kami. He was a very kind upperclassman. He was an inspiring leader. Mayroon din siyang classmate cadet Glyxe Sua ay talagang isang combat officer iyong nakasama namin sa Mindanao,” Bataoil described the sturdy retired colonel and former Pangasinan governor whom the general met at the Long Gray Line in Fort del Pilar, Baguio City.

Espino is presently the Fifth District Congressman of Pangasinan.

He explained that his combat experiences like with that senior officer Sua, he and other combat officers could not forget in their lifetime.

“So ako rin ngayon sa mga field experiences na kung saan pinamamahagi ko sa aking mga nagiging cadets ko . To these days mga service officers na sila, mga retired na ang iba. So, I am very happy,” he told Bombo Radyo’s Beyond Politics last February”. 

From PMA he was appointed by the PNP Chief then Director General Cesar Nazareno to be the Commandant of Cadets of the Philippines National Police Academy at Camp Castaneda, Silang, Cavite.

Retired Three - Star Police General Leopoldo Bataoil is a former commander of the elite British inspired commando's Special Action Force. (Photo grab from the internet)

“Noong dinala ako sa PNPA as Commandant of Cadets lalo akong na inspire na leadership and management experiences ko sa field pagmamahal ko sa mga future na police officer. So these are the glorious moment mga fulfilling moments in the life of a career officer sa uniform service.

He said these experiences he brought to the Academy, a police version of the military oriented PMA, influenced future officers that will carry the good customs and tradition of the service.

The down- to- earth retired general cited that his other assignments before his retirement in 2009 was in Cotabato City as Metro District Command  or what a Cotabateño like this writer called then as Metrodiscom, Commander, provincial directors of Negros Occidental and Pangasinan – two biggest provinces in the country, commander of the Special Action Force,  a one star ranked director of the Police Regional Office in Region 1, a two-star ranked  National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) and later as the chief of the Directorate for Integrated Police Operations (DIPO) in Northern Luzon, a super body” that check on terrorism, insurgency, illegal drugs, gambling and other concerns, before he lay down his uniform in 2009 and picked up a politician clothe and won the congressional post  of the countless villages of the eight towns’ Second District in Pangasinan.

He is a resident of Capital Town Lingayen where he and six siblings were brought up in a modest but loving way by a head teacher father of Magsaysay Elementary School

 and a doting mother who forgo teaching to become a full time mother taking care of her children's  daily needs.

The general said Mrs. Marcella Bataoil became her children's tutor.

After serving for almost nine years, Bataoil will be leaving in June 30  this year the August Chamber in Quezon City but he is ubiquitously seen shaking hands and fervently consulting with his constituents in Lingayen for another win as a mayoral candidate of the Capital Town in the gargantuan province of Pangasinan.

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“I remember may isang nasa PMA pala ako,  there was this civilian employee by the name of Mortz Ortigoza (author of this article). Ito ay isang tao na ito ay napakabata na civilian employee iyon. Nagkikita kami sa Mindanao, nagkikita kami sa Manila, nagkikita kami dito sa Pangasinan. Kasama natin sa media. Those were the days. Na mu monitor niya iyong mga buhay namin as officers and hanggang  sa mag retire kami as civilian in public service”

 – Retired General and Congressman Pol Bataoil told the anchor of Beyond Politics

(You can read my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)