Ayungin Marines get medals, haircut, 2-week vacation for bravery, endurance

AYUNGIN DEFENDERS. Marine 1st Lt.Mike Pelotera and members of his platoon salute the national flag during the ceremony for outgoing security personnel of the BRP Sierra Madre at Naval Forces West headquarters in Puerto Princesa City on Monday. GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Philippines—For their bravery—maybe endurance should be added—they received bronze medals, a haircut and a shave, and two weeks for rest and recreation.

The nine members of the Marine platoon who manned the Philippine detachment aboard the rusting BRP Sierra Madre grounded on Ayungin Shoal (Second Thomas Shoal) for five months got their reward upon setting foot on mainland Palawan province on Monday.

Bearded to the last man and most with long, unkempt hair, the Marines were honored by the Western Command (Wescom) at 9:30 a.m. at Naval Forces West headquarters in Ulugan Bay in this city facing the West Philippine Sea.

Wescom Commander Lt. Gen. Roy Deveraturda presided over the ceremonies honoring 1st Lt. Mike Pelotera and his men: Technical Sergeants Julio Ventoza and Joselito Panganiban, Sergeants Edwin Galvan and Rey Sarmiento, Corporals Rogelio Tabilisima and Jeffrey Luna, and Privates First Class Margo Pajarillo and Ryan Esteban.

The platoon was successfully extracted from the Sierra Madre on Saturday after a two-hour standoff between a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) research vessel carrying the troop replacement and a group of journalists and two Chinese Coast Guard ships that tried to stop the Filipinos from getting to the disputed Ayungin Shoal in the West Philippine Sea.

New detail

Brilliant maneuvering by the BFAR vessel brought the mission through, and Pelotera’s platoon was replaced by another detail that would hold the rusty fort for the next five months.

The Philippines grounded the BRP Sierra Madre on Ayungin Shoal in 1999 to mark the boundary of the country’s territory in the Spratly Islands in the West Philippine Sea.

UN arbitration

China, which claims nearly 90 percent of the 3.5-million-square-kilometer South China Sea, insists the Spratly Islands, including Ayungin Shoal, are part of its territory.

To resolve the dispute peacefully, the Philippines went to the United Nations for arbitration in January last year.

On Sunday, the Philippines filed its memorandum on the case in the UN arbitral court in The Hague, the Netherlands. The memorandum includes instances of Chinese harassment at Ayungin Shoal.

The tour of duty of Pelotera’s platoon was supposed to have ended two weeks ago but Chinese Coast Guard ships blockaded the shoal and drove away a civilian resupply vessel carrying fresh troops and provisions.

Provisions were air-dropped to them later, and Saturday’s successful mission brought them back to land.

“Now, you have time to visit your families and rest in shaded places where you can recover the original tone of your skin,” Deveraturda told the soldiers during the awarding ceremony.

In his brief remarks, Deveraturda said the work shown by the Ayungin defenders was “proof of how the Armed Forces lives up to its work mandated by the people.”

‘This is our territory’

“You have to be strong-willed,” Pelotera said when asked what it takes to be assigned to Ayungin Shoal.

“This is our territory, that’s why we have to be prepared to stay here for a long period, even if it takes years,” he said.

There were times, he said, that he and his men did not sleep, monitoring the movements of the Chinese ships surrounding the shoal.

Once, the soldiers counted seven Chinese vessels roaming in the vicinity of the shoal.

Troops assigned to the Ayungin detail are also awarded a substantial hazard pay.

Father-to-be

Esteban, from the Western Visayas island province of Guimaras, said he was looking forward to seeing his fiancée, who is due to give birth to their first child in May.

“I was finally able to speak to her at dawn yesterday, as soon as our ship got near the mainland and we got a signal on our cellular phones,” he said.—With a report from Nikko Dizon

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