We’ve seen people pretend to be cops or soldiers before, usually to facilitate robbery and extortion.
But a man arrested in Marawi yesterday has taken things to an entirely new level.
Identifying himself as a 17-star general of the “United Nations Soldier International,” the man was arrested along with four others at a check point in Marawi City on Thursday.
According to GMA News, which did not reveal his name, the “17-star general” claimed to be a commanding general in Philippines Asia Pacific under direct orders from the “United States Special Forces.”
Sounds like a rank and unit straight out of a fiction novel. And it might as well be, because, of course, neither the unit nor rank exists.
What the military found more baffling than the dazzling array of stars, was how the “general” got past so many checkpoints in Mindanao despite the fact that the island is currently under martial law.
“If you don’t know anything about international membership, you might think it’s real. There’s a big ID on the truck,” said John Gano Guyguyon, police provincial director of Lanao Del Sur.
Their vehicle had a tarpaulin bearing a logo and the words “Appointment Authority.”
Guyguyon said he’s seen similar extortion activities by men pretending to be military and police in Luzon. “They would have an ID and everything in order to extort people,” Guyguyon said.
But a 17-star “UN general”? That’s what’s called badly overplaying your hand.
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