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PNoy OKs 'medal of valor' awards to 2 SAF 44 members


Malacañang on Saturday confirmed that President Benigno Aquino III has approved the recommendation to confer two Special Action Force members involved in the Mamasapano mission with the Medal of Valor award.

"The President authorized the award and among the awards that will be conferred ay ang tinatawag na Medalya ng Kagitingan or the PNP Medal of Valor," Communications Undersecretary Manuel Quezon III announced over state-run radio dzRB.

SAF members Senior Inspector Gednat Tabdi and Police Officer 2 Romeo Cempron will receive the medal of valor awards on Monday during the PNP's commemoration of the first anniversary of the Mamasapano incident.

Quezon said that Aquino has also authorized the posthumous conferment of Medalya ng Kabayanihan or the PNP Distinguished Conduct Medal awards to the remaining members of the SAF 44.

The 44 SAF members were killed in Mamasapano, Maguindanao on Jan. 25, 2015.

The police commandos were sent to Barangay Tukanalipao in Mamasapano town to neutralize Indonesian terrorist Zulkifli Binhir alias Marwan and Filipino bomb expert Abdul Basit Usman.

The SAF members killed the Indonesian terrorist, but failed to arrest Usman, who would later be killed in a separate clash with security forces in Mindanao.

The SAF members were ambushed by members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters during extraction.

Tabdi was the leader of Team 1 of the 84th Special Action Company. Even when he was already wounded, Tabdi still led his team to accomplish its mission.

Cempron, on the other hand, was the lead gunner of the main effort of the 55th Special Action Company.

When his fellow commandos were already dying, he sacrificed himself as a human shield in order for survivor PO2 Christopher Lalan to move to safety. —ALG, GMA News

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