Presidential candidate Sen. Grace Poe revealed some members of her cabinet once elected President of the Republic of the Philippines. According to the adopted daughter of Fernando Poe Jr., she will appoint Medal of Valor awardee and former rebel soldier to be her anti-crime czar should she become the President.
Sen. Grace Poe mentioned during the second presidential debate held in Cebu City that she will designate retired Marine Colonel Ariel Querubin as her anti-crime czar, the decorated soldier was with the senator’s delegation in Sunday’s debate.
The former Marine officer, Col. Querubin was also with Sen. Grace Poe during the time when the senator made public her senatorial slate at the Club Filipino in October 2015.
The name of Col. Querubin was mentioned by the presidential candidate when she was criticized for her lack of experience in government and she was attacked by her detractors that she was incapable of solving the country’s problem on illegal drugs.
During the announcement of Querubin he was overwhelmed and stated “I am deeply honored by the trust put in me by Senator Grace Poe. I believe in her, her dreams, ideals and aspirations. Of all the candidates, it is her policy towards peace and order that makes the most sense. Murder cannot be an instrument of national policy because it goes against humanity itself.”
Who is Col. Querubin:
Colonel Ariel Querubin is a member of the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1979 and was considered as the most decorated officers in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). He was a recipient of the military’s highest honor, the Medal of Valor for leading a Marine Batallion in a 24-hour firefight against an estimated 300 fully armed Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters in Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte in March 2000.
Col. Querubin, as a founding member of the military group Young Officers’ Union (YOU), he helped stage the nearly successful coup attempt aganst Pres. Aquino in December 1989, he was jailed, but was later pardoned and allowed to reenter military service.
In 2006, Querubin was involved in a seven-hour standoff with government troops after he and a group of Marines protested the relief of Marine commandant, Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda, at the Marines headquarters in Fort Bonifacio.
Col. Querubin was credited for:
- The neutralization of Jessie Rafael, provincial chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) in Abucay, Bataan in 1981;
- The neutralization of four Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) leaders in Southern Palawan in 1983;
- The rescue of Swiss national Hans Kunsli in Sulu in 1986;
- The neutralization of MNLF leader Racquel Carreon in Brooke’s Point, Palawan and CPP-NPA commander Ka Ninong in Aborlan, Palawan in 1988;
- The neutralization of Barahama Sali that led to the release of Fr. Cirilo Nacorda in 1994, and
- The neutralization Abu Sayyaf spokesperson Abu Sabaya in 2002.
