Mamasapano fallen SAF officer to get medal of valor

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One of the fallen 44 Special Action Force (SAF) members will be  posthumously  awarded  for gallantry in action.

The PNP Medal of Valor, the highest military award, will be handed in a ceremony to the family of the late PO1 Romeo Cempron by President Benigno Aquino III, said Chief Supt. Augusto Marquez, deputy director of Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM).

Marquez said  no date has been scheduled for the recognition ceremony.

But it is possible that the President will mention this during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) or during the PNP Day on August 7 or 8, he said.

The President is traditionally the guest of honor during the PNP Day.

Marquez, who is a regular member of the PNP Special Promotion, Awards and Deliberation Board (SPADB), first confirmed this in his Facebook page after his motion was unanimously approved in an en banc assembly in Camp Crame, Quezon City at 2:30 p.m. last Wednesday.

“I have officially moved for the approval of the granting of the PNP Medal of Valor, the highest decoration for intrepidity and gallantry in action, above and beyond the call of duty, to PO1 Romeo Cempron for his supreme sacrifice with disregard for his life during an armed engagement with hundreds of BIFF terrorists in Mamasapano, Maguindanao,” said Marquez, who is also a Cebuano.

Marquez said all the fallen 44 SAF members were actually recommended for a medal of valor, but the requirement of the testimonies  from at least two witnesses  attesting to their heroic acts with specific details must be met.

In Cempron’s case, PO2 Christopher Lalan, the lone survivor of the massacre, issued a statement detailing Cempron’s gallant actions.

Lalan said Cempron made his escape possible by standing up from his position to create a diversion and allow Lalan to make a break for it.