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Ex-chief marshal, DPS official Onni passes away
Pete Wilhelm Onni, a former chief marshal of the CNMI Courthouse who also served as a police lieutenant at the Department of Public Safety, passed away on Monday in Nueva Ecija, Philippines. He was 68.
Onni died of a massive heart attack in a hospital in the Philippines, according to former DPS commissioner Charles W. Ingram yesterday.
Pete Wilhelm Onni
“I was shocked. I became emotional,” said Ingram about his reaction upon receiving an email Monday night from Onni’s wife about what had happened.
Onni and wife, Sharon Mangilit Onni, have three children: Edward, Pete Jr., and Jewel. The family lives in Cabiao, Nueva Ecija.
Ingram and his wife Helen are the godfather and godmother of Onni’s children Edward and Pete Jr. respectively.
Onni’s burial will be this Saturday at a cemetery in Cabiao.
Ingram said Onni first served as chief marshal of the CNMI Courthouse, then he hired him at DPS as a police lieutenant during his term as commissioner from 1998 to 2002. Ingram said he assigned Onni as head of the criminal intelligence and Interpol.
“He’s very good. He rewrote all the standard operations procedures and guidelines for DPS and Department of Corrections,” the former DPS commissioner said.
After serving at DPS for less than four years, Onni and his family moved to the Philippines.
Onni was born in Hanko, Finland, where he served in the military and became a police officer. He then worked for the police department in Atlanta, Georgia.
Ingram said Onni conducted a lot of K-9 trainings in the United States.
Before coming to Saipan, Onni served as head of Customs at American Samoa.
