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Thursday, September 21, 2006
Military admits it erred in giving valor award to 2 soldiers
AN ARMED Forces of the Philippines (AFP) board on Wednesday discovered “procedural errors” in the awarding of a Medal of Valor (MOV) each to an Army officer and an enlisted personnel for the neutralization of an infamous Abu Sayyaf leader and five of his men two years ago.
“There were so many procedures that were not followed. There were some procedural errors,” said AFP Vice Chief Antonio Romero, referring to the conferring of the medals to Lieutenant Colonel Noel Buan and Sergeant Leopoldo Diokno.
Romero, the present chairman of the MOV board, has been tasked by the military leadership to review the granting of the award to Buan and Diokno based on a new request of MOV awardee Arturo Ortiz, commander of the Army’s Special Forces Regiment (SFR).
Ortiz, along with another MOV awardee, Lieutenant Colonel Custodio Parcon, first filed a complaint on the conferment of the award to Buan and Diokno shortly after the two officers and men were given the award on Dec. 21, 2004.
The military looked into the complaint but the subsequent inquiry seemed to have been sidelined by the retirement of then Armed Forces chief Efren Abu, prompting Ortiz to renew his request for an investigation during the stint of Abu’s successor, General Generoso Senga.
Ortiz and Parcon had opposed the granting of the award to Buan and Diokno, noting that the two First Scout Ranger Regiment personnel applied an element of deceit in the killing of Abu Sayyaf leader Hamsiraji Sali and his men in Basilan in April 2004.
Buan and his men were negotiating for the surrender of Sali but the government soldiers opened fire at Sali and his group as the Abu Sayyaf group was poised to fight it out as the talks bogged down. Buan was wounded in that clash.
Ortiz has said Buan and Diokno deserve only the Distinguish Conduct Star, the second highest military decoration for combat. A medal for valor awardee enjoys a number of perks, including a P20,000 monthly allowance and free education for his children.
Romero said the procedural errors on the case of Diokno was more glaring that that of Buan. “On the case of the officer, its not that serious but on the case of the enlisted personnel, there a lot of procedural defects,” said Romero without elaborating.
When asked if the MOV conferred to Buan and Diokno would be taken back, Romero said: “We are only a recommendatory body. We’ll just say (in our report) the procedures that were not followed. Then we will go to the content.”
“I think the officer would not be affected, that is my personal opinion. We are a committee. Our committee decides unanimously because there are only five of us (who compose the committee). If one is absent, we call him because we have cellphones,” he added.
On the complaint of Ortiz that Buan and his men applied an element of deceit to neutralize Sali and his men, the military official said: “We are not still there, we are not yet on the content (issue).” (VR/Sunnex)
(September 21, 2006 issue)
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