Mamasapano troopers to finally receive medals

After the service awards for the members of Special Action Force were allegedly blocked by Malacañang in August last year, the National Police Commission (Napolcom) has recommended President Aquino to bestow the highest police service medal on two SAF troopers for displaying gallantry during the high-risk mission in Mamasapano, Maguindanao on January 25, 2015.

Chief Insp. Gednat Tabdi and PO2 Romeo Cempron have been recommended for the conferment of highly-coveted PNP Medal of Valor for “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of their lives above and beyond the call of duty.”

SAF survivor Supt. Raymund Train, the overall team leader of the Mamasapano operation, will also receive the PNP Distinguished Conduct Medal or Medalya ng Kabayanihan along with the 42 commandos killed in the raid against terrorists Zulkifli Bin Hir or “Marwan” and Basit Usman.

The announcement came from Interior Secretary Mel Sarmiento, who also chairs the Napolcom, after the Commission en banc issued on November 25 last year three resolutions containing the recommendation of awards.

Names removed

In August last year, a government official claimed that the names of Cempron and Train had been ordered removed from the list of awardees during the 114th police service anniversary in Camp Crame that President Aquino had attended.

READ: SAF men removed from PNP awards list

The names of the two SAF officers to be awarded by Aquino were nowhere to be found in the anniversary program. This was despite the inclusion of their names in the official memorandum identifying the police personnel to be awarded by the President himself. The official claimed there was a verbal instruction from the Presidential Management Staff to the PNP to remove the Mamasapano awardees from the program.

The PNP memorandum on the “Result of the Selection of Awardees” that INQUIRER.net obtained showed that Cempron was to have been posthumously awarded the Medal of Valor while Train was to have received the Medalya ng Kabayanihan. But in the program advisory released by Malacañang and in the official program itself, Cempron and Train’s names were not included in the list.

The head of the PNP Intelligence Group, Chief Superintendent Fernando Mendez Jr., the official who provided the intelligence packet used in the ill-fated raid, was also said to be among the awardees but was also not included in the program.

Cempron’s widow Christine was informed a week ahead of awarding day that her husband would be honored by the President. She even bought a Filipiniana dress for the event and flew to Manila on the day before the awarding but was eventually told that her husband won’t be among the awardees.

The removal of the SAF awardees in the list was dismissed by both the PNP and Malacañang, saying the awards to be bestowed on Cempron and Train’s awards were still being deliberated upon by the awards board

Marwan assault 

Tabdi, a Philippine National Police Academy 2009 graduate, led 38 officers from the US-trained Seaborne in assaulting the hut of Marwan in Barangay (village) Pidsandawan. He was the one who cut off Marwan’s finger for DNA analysis.

“Tabdi served as the navigator and point man in piercing and cutting through the enemy envelopments that led him and the operating teams out of annihilation. Although wounded, weakened and dehydrated in the daylong firefights, he prepared and led his troops for the showdown against the overwhelming odds that marked his gallant stand as a SAF trooper. His leadership, courage and gallantry had inspired the troopers to hack it out with the overwhelming enemy to accomplish the mission,” Napolcom vice chairman Eduardo Escueta said in a statement on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Cempron, who was supposed to receive the Valor medal in August, was the lead gunner of 55th Special Action Company who provided cover for survivor PO2 Christoper Lalan so he could escape and live.

“While his team of 36 SAF commandos was being bombarded by the enemies in the cornfields of Sitio Tukanalipao, and without proper cover, PO2 Cempron bravely fought and made his last stand until he ran out of ammunition. He fought and stood his ground at the battlefield for five hours knowing full well that the SAF was already outnumbered and with only a few of the team members surviving. At the last moment of his life, when escape could be possible, PO2 Cempron decided, instead, to help facilitate the escape of PO2 Lalan by using his body as a diversion for snipers so that the latter can run away from the enemies,” the vice chairman said.

“These heroes will always be remembered and their sacrifice will never be forgotten. The SAF 44 did not die in vain, but showed the highest form of sacrifice for our safety and for our country,” said Escueta.

READ: SAF recruits nearly triple after Mamasapano tragedy

Lifetime pension

Qualified children of awardees of PNP Medal of Valor and PNP Distinguished Conduct Medal will receive educational scholarship under the Reward Education Assistance Program (REAP) of the PNP.

Valor awardees are also entitled to several incentives and special privileges under Republic Act No. 9049 or the act granting monthly gratuity and privileges to an awardee of Medal of Valor.

“Awardees are entitled to a lifetime monthly pension of P20,000. In the event of death of the awardee, the same shall accrue in equal shares and with the right of accretion to the surviving spouse until she remarries and to the legitimate, adopted or illegitimate children until they reach the age of 18 or until they marry, whichever comes earlier,” said Napolcom.

Aside from the service medals, all SAF 44 troopers received posthumous promotion of a rank higher, gratuity and pension for their families, and scholarship grant for their children. CDG

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