It was like being given a gift, only to have it abruptly taken away.
Such was the “frustration” that Christine Cempron said she felt when told that her husband, P02 Romeo Cempron, one of the 44 Special Action Force commandos killed in the Mamasapano massacre in January, would no longer be among the awardees at the 114th anniversary rites of the Philippine National Police held on Friday at Camp Crame, Quezon City.
Cempron and two other SAF members were removed from the list of policemen due for recognition at the PNP event, reportedly at the behest of the Presidential Management Staff.
According to Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma and PNP spokesperson Chief Supt. Wilben Mayor, the deliberations and evaluation process on the giving of awards “could not be completed on time despite best efforts,” so the recognition was scrapped from the program altogether.
SAF spokesperson Senior Insp. Jayson Baldos explained that the awards given out at the PNP anniversary covered incidents from January to December 2014, and excluded the Mamasapano encounter that happened on Jan 25 this year.
“If there will be an awarding next year, they will be included,” he said.
Filipiniana dress
Aside from Cempron who was due to receive posthumously the Medal of Valor (Medalya ng Kagitingan), also removed from the list of awardees were Mamasapano survivor Supt. Raymundo Train and Chief Supt. Fernando Mendez of the PNP Intelligence Group.
“Frustrated, that’s how anyone would feel,” the 34-year-old
Cempron widow said in an interview with reporters the following day during the Memorial Day program for police officers killed in the line of duty held at SAF headquarters in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City. (See story at right.)
The widow recalled receiving a call from SAF personnel on Friday the previous week, telling her to prepare a Filipiniana dress for the posthumous awarding of her husband who died giving cover to a fellow trooper, PO2 Christopher Lalan, in the SAF operation in Mamasapano, Maguindanap.
She was told the award would be “given by no less than the President himself.”
“So I was really expecting it. It (was) quite a big thing, a once in a lifetime (event),” Cempron, who lives in Cebu, said.
Excited, she bought a dress for P5,000 using personal funds, and informed her mother-in-law that they were flying to Manila soon.
Last Tuesday, however, Cempron said she received another call telling her “the awarding would not push through. I thought the entire event had been cancelled.”
Felt left out
That was until she saw a live television feed of President Aquino’s speech during the PNP anniversary and read the Inquirer online article about the three awardees being stricken off the list at the last minute.
“I felt left out. I thought it was more cost-effective had my husband (and the others) been included (in the PNP anniversary awarding),” she said.
If there were things that still needed to be discussed, she should not have been told to make preparations for the awarding in the first place, Cempron said. Her understanding was that everything, including the deliberations, had been completed.
“You’re making the person hope for something. Just don’t say anything if it isn’t final yet,” she said.
During the memoral on Saturday, PNP Director General Ricardo Marquez told reporters he would “make sure to hasten the process” required for the awarding of Cempron, Train and Mendez.
Saddens VP
“And if we can’t hasten it at the PNP level, there are scheduled executive committees in the (National Police Commission) to expedite the process. Because I agree with you, if we prolong this, the sentiment will be that we don’t want (it),” the PNP official said.
Vice President Jejomar Binay meanwhile said the removal of the names of the three SAF commandos from the awards list “saddened” him.
In an interview during a visit to San Quintin, Pangasinan, Binay asked: “What could be the reason? Wasn’t it Colonel Train who led the raid?”
Binay, who paid tribute to the fallen SAF men during his so-called “true” state of the nation address in Cavite last week, had criticized President Aquino for failing to acknowledge the slain police troopers in his own Sona.