Firstborn fights for life in hospital as Scout Ranger pa battles militants

HOME AT LAST Army Capt. Monroe Bongyad with his wife, Gina, and son, Gabe. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

While Army Scout Ranger Capt. Monroe Bongyad was battling Islamic State-inspired terrorists on the frontlines in Marawi City, his firstborn was fighting for his life in a hospital several hundred kilometers away.

Even though he was aware of his son’s deteriorating condition, the commanding officer of the 7th Scout Ranger Company was not about to leave his men, four of whom had been killed in the fighting.

Bongyad did not want to add to her wife Gina’s worries, so he did not tell her and his family that he had been in the thick of the fighting in Marawi since May 23, when Maute Group terrorists attacked the city.

“I did not want them to know that I was in Marawi. It would only add to my wife’s stress and divide her attention, which my son badly needed,” he said.

In the morning, Bongyad would turn off his phone and fight in the main battle area. In the evening, he would call his wife.

All he wanted was to help end the siege early by defeating the terrorists and then go home to his wife and their baby.

His son, Mon “Gabe” Gabriel, was born prematurely on April 17 and had been in and out of the hospital at least four times because of an abnormality called intestinal malrotation, which happens when a baby’s intestines don’t form into a coil in the abdomen.

While on paternity leave, the 34-year-old captain and his wife brought their baby  from the Northern Samar Hospital in Catarman town to a big hospital in Bicol for a major operation on April 19.

When the baby’s heart rate deteriorated he was transferred again to a better-equipped private hospital.

By the second week of May, Bongyad’s furlough had ended and he was sent by his commanders to Basilan province and then to Marawi on May 23.

There were times in Marawi, he said, when he would cry while praying for the life of his child. He could not understand why the terrorists had little regard for human life.

“The rebels do not respect rules of engagement. They killed indiscriminately and even raped locals in front of their parents,” Bongyad said.

But his heart remained with his wife and child. Because a captain’s salary could only afford so much, he turned to the military for help in transporting his son from one hospital to another.

Twenty days after the operation, Gabe had to be transferred again to Philippine Children’s Medical Center in Quezon City. The child had developed postoperation complications.

Bongyad took out a loan to cover part of the expenses, but he could go no further. His wife, a dentist, had stopped working. Because of documentary problems, they could not use their PhilHealth cards.

Their finances virtually zero, the captain remembered one of his former commanders at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) who happens to be the general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).

During a brief lull in the fighting in Marawi, Bongyad sent retired Maj. Gen. Alexander Balutan a private message on Facebook last June 19 asking for help.

“How I wish I were with (my family). But because of the call of duty, I can’t be there. My wife also does not know I am here. They think I am in Basilan. I am a bit hard up now, sir… I will consider this a big debt of gratitude,” Bongyad wrote.

Balutan immediately replied to Bongyad, a member of PMA Class of 2007. He granted the captain’s request for assistance and said the agency would take care of his son’s hospital expenses and doctor’s fees.

The former Marine told the Scout Ranger to focus on his job.

“Your wife and child need a warrior father like you,” said Balutan, a 22-year Marine veteran who helped expose irregularities in the 2004 elections.

Home at last after the end of the Marawi crisis to see his son and wife, Bongyad, still in his battle fatigues, attended the PCSO’s 83rd anniversary celebration last Thursday at Wack Wack Golf and Country Club in Mandaluyong City, and thanked the agency for its assistance.

During the affair, he recalled asking Balutan in June how he could repay the PCSO, which reimbursed his son’s hospital expenses amounting to more than P300,000.

“Give me the head of Isnilon,” Balutan had replied in jest. “No pressure. Keep the faith. Be true to the courage, integrity and loyalty that all of us imbibe in the Philippine Military Academy. See you soon, my man.”

Bongyad said he used to think of the PCSO as just the agency that handled lotto.

“Many Army men buy lotto tickets. I am from the government, but I thought the PCSO is only for the indigents. I did not know they could be as helpful as this,” he said.

On Oct. 16, less than four months after he sought Balutan’s help, Bongyad broke the good news to the general. He attached a photo of the dead Hapilon to his private message.

“We may not be the one who got Hapilon and Maute (terrorist leader Omar) but we are happy to say and report that we are part of it. Mission accomplished, sir,” part of his message to Balutan read.