The Philippines’ outstanding soldiers

MANILA, Philippines—These soldiers are being recognized for fighting the communist insurgency, for returning a lost bag containing a big amount of cash, and for saving lives during calamities.

Besides T/Sgt. Salvador Buenaobra Jr., who invented a portable runway lighting system, and Data Processor 2nd Class Renyor Calzado, who developed a program called the “Philippine Navy Ships and Yards Management and Information System,” here are the rest of the Metrobank Foundation and Makati Rotary Club’s The Outstanding Philippine Soldiers for 2009:

• Lt. Col. Lope Dagoy continued to help the government crush the communist insurgency despite having been ambushed twice by guerrillas in Leyte and Samar. But he believed that giving rebel returnees a home was one way to solve the conflict. He has tapped the Gawad Kalinga for a housing project for the returnees in the two provinces.

• S/Sgt. Fidel Delara played a major role in clipping the recruitment of the communist New People’s Army in the countryside. Undaunted by the death threats he had been receiving since 2005 for serving as a gunner in major combat operations against the NPA, he went on to conduct a massive information drive against insurgency.

• M/Sgt. Romeo Jandungan initially joined the military to avenge his family who had fallen victim to NPA atrocities. But in the battlefield, he realized that educating the people on the problems of communism was more important than taking revenge.

• Col. Romeo Tanalgo has led his men in long and difficult battles with communist guerrillas in the jungles of Abra and Bicol. His biggest crusade now is his wife’s cancer, but he continues to be of service to the country.

• T/Sgt. Ramon Cabeguin saved many lives, including that of a man who lost his wife and children to the floodwaters spawned in the Bicol region by Typhoon “Reming” in 2006. The incident was a true test for him as a soldier because it was not easy to save someone who no longer wanted to live.

• Col. Restituto Padilla Jr. directed 324.8 hours of air combat missions without accident. The pilot also saved members of a family trapped on their roof as rampaging lahar wiped out barangays (villages) in Pampanga province following the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991.

• S/Sgt. Blas Austria was not blinded by the glitter of money that he found stashed in a stolen bag years ago. As a noncommissioned officer in charge of the Office of the Director for Intelligence at the Fernando Air Base in Lipa City, Batangas, Austria recovered a small bag containing roughly P90,000, which was earlier stolen from a fellow soldier in the barracks area of the H740th Combat Group. Despite his need, he immediately returned the money that was intended for the combat group’s salary. He was also instrumental in the arrest of an impostor who was able to get a P300,000 loan from a bank at the Basa Air Base.

• Col. Pedro Herrera-Davila chose to serve in the military than to pursue a career in a top law firm. Working at the Judge Advocate General’s Office, the lawyer played a vital role in the prosecution of former military comptroller Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia, and 284 junior officers who mounted the Oakwood mutiny in July 2003.
#
March 26, 2009 06:41:00
Jocelyn Uy
Philippine Daily Inquirer