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A MILITARY board is set to release its reports
regarding the controversial awarding of Medals of Honor to a
military colonel and a sergeant responsible for neutralizing a
leader of the Abu Sayyaf Group in 2004.
According to Lt. Gen. Antonio
Romero, the head of a five-man board tasked to review the awarding
of the highest combat honors to Lt. Col. Noel Buan and Sgt. Leopoldo
Diokno, the board has already arrived with a recommendation to
retain the awards and the report only needs his signature before it
is forwarded to the Armed Forces chief of staff.
“I still have to look at the
final report. The board saw procedural lapses in the awarding, but
the facts of the case are there, so if we will look at it we see no
reason to revoke it,” Romero told reporters.
Buan and Diokno were first
awarded the Gold Cross Medal for killing Abu Sayyaf leader Hamsiraji
Sali in April 2004 in Basilan.
Their awards were later upgraded
to the Distinguished Conduct Star, then to a Medal of Valor after
President Gloria Arroyo inquired if they can be upgraded.
Some members of the medal of
valor board, Brigadier General Arturo Ortiz, Philippine Military
Academy Class of 1979, Marine Lt. Col. Custodio Parcon, of PMA Class
of 1987 questioned the award given to the duo, and quit the board as
a protest.
In earlier interviews, Ortiz said
the two are not entitled to the award because “treachery and
deception marred the said operation” against the Abu Sayyaf group.
Romero said there were lapses on
the procedure, but not on the merit, adding that short cuts were
committed in the process of awarding.
He said the awarding of the Gold
Cross to the two did not undergo deliberation amongst the members of
the awards and decoration board.
Romero added that although the
recommendation to upgrade it to Medal of Valor was deliberated by
the awarding board, the overall process still lacks the initial
procedures, but it is not enough reason to revoke it.
“There are indeed procedural
lapses based on what we have seen, but the award [is] commensurate
to the action,” he added.
After signing the final report,
Romero said it will be forwarded to the Armed Forces Chief of Staff
for final approval.
--Jefferson Antiporda
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