Defeat, Discipline, and Destiny: Marantan Finally Gets His Star

A story of defeat and truimph

DAVAO CITY (October 16) –For years, his name was synonymous with controversy, an enigma in uniform, a man both hailed and haunted. Yet on the day former Davao City Police Director Hansel M. Marantan received his first star, the long and painful chapters of his past seemed to find their quiet redemption.

Now Brigadier General Hansel M. Marantan, the newly promoted Acting Director of the Highway Patrol Group (HPG), carries with him not just the rank, but the scars, literal and invisible, that tell the story of a life lived in the shadows of duty.

A proud graduate of the Philippine National Police Academy Kabalikat Class of 1998, Marantan etched his name in the institution’s history books as the first of his class to ascend to the rank of Brigadier General within the Philippine National Police. His journey, however, was far from smooth. It was a path forged through blood, betrayal, and belief.

Known as one of the country’s most skilled intelligence officers, Marantan trained in some of the most elite intelligence schools abroad. He became the go-to man for critical missions, operations that demanded not just courage, but cold precision and the willingness to stand at the edge of moral compromise.

But with prominence came peril. His name was dragged into some of the nation’s most controversial police operations, the kind that make or break reputations overnight. The Atimonan case was perhaps the darkest storm of his career. What began as an anti-crime operation lauded by the Palace soon turned into a nightmare.
“For three days, we were heroes. On the fourth, we were murderers,” he would later recall.

He spent almost five years behind bars at the PNP Custodial Center, accused, vilified, and left to wrestle with the weight of public judgment. His body bore 52 metal screws, a knee replacement, and partial hearing loss from countless bloody encounters. His spirit, however, bore something deeper, the quiet ache of doing the right thing, only to be condemned for it.

On October 13, a message from Malacañang quietly made its way to the office of Interior Secretary Juanito Victor Remulla, a communiqué that would change the course of one man’s story. It bore the long-awaited news: Police Colonel Hansel M. Marantan, once confined within the walls of a custodial cell, had been promoted to the rank of Police Brigadier General.

“It is lonely to do the right things,” he once said softly, his voice edged with both resolve and sorrow. “But my late parents Nanay Milagros and Tay Olimpio always gave me guidance—to follow the rule of law.”

In that loneliness, he found strength. While others would have broken, he reflected, rebuilt, and waited. The court’s final decision on June 25 clearing him of the Atimonan charges became not just a legal victory, it was vindication, years overdue.

Today, as Brigadier General Marantan awaits to don his star, it gleams not just with rank, but with redemption. Behind that polished insignia lies a story of pain endured and justice reclaimed. A man once caged by doubt now stands free, his faith in the system, though battered, unbroken.

The road to triumph, for Marantan, was neither easy nor glamorous. It was fought inch by inch, scar by scar. His story is not just about a promotion, it’s about a man who fell, was judged, and chose to rise again.-Editha Z. Caduaya