An inspiring week of valor and winning gold!

This week has been an inspiring week for me, first because we saw on our Facebook page in time for Independence Day how many of our Filipino soldiers who fought the Maute terror group in Marawi City sacrificed their lives and died so that we can continue with our democratic way of life and stop the Maute group from establishing a Caliphate in our land. Sure the fighting is still on in Marawi, that’s because urban warfare is more difficult to fight than fighting in the jungle. We already saw this in Raqqa, Palmyra, and Aleppo in Syria and Mosul in Iraq. 

Among the many stories of valor that we saw and read in Marawi City, the most heartrending and memorable is the story of Private First Class (PFC) Dhan Ryan Bayot who with his fellow soldiers were advancing inside the center of Marawi City and came under intense fire. PFC Bayot was wounded and knowing that he could not count on reinforcements as the Maute terrorists already surrounded him, radioed his superior officers “Bomb my location Sir!” We will never forget the exploits of PFC Bayot for he is a real hero, who died on May 24th^, which was my 66th birthday.

Then ANC came up with the photos of those soldiers who died fighting in Marawi City in what I call a very fitting tribute to the men in arms that fought and died so that we civilians do not need to arm ourselves to fight these terrorists. This is why I loathe watching oppositionist Rep. Edcel Lagman for appearing before the Supreme Court telling the SC and Filipino people that what is happening in Marawi City is not a rebellion and there was no reason for declare Martial Law in Mindanao. Rep. Lagman, someday you will pay the price for your insensitivity and corruption and the Filipino people will be there to see that you get the justice you do not deserve! There will be a day of reckoning for you and your kind sir!

Last Monday morning, we all trooped to the Ayala Center’s Cinema 5 as Cebuanos were given a rare Independence Day treat by Spyron AV and the Philippine Veterans Bank with the free showing of two documentaries, the first was multi-awarded “Unsurrendered” the story of the “Hunter’s ROTC Guerrillas who were studying at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) who were not conscripted to the USAFFEE to fight the Japanese because they were too young. They became the most active guerrillas fighting the Japanese in Luzon.

The other documentary was “Valor: The Legacy of Col. Emmanuel V. De Ocampo” who at a very young age joined the Hunter’s ROTC and fought during the liberation of Rizal, Batangas, Laguna, Cavite and Manila. Then on the next day, I interviewed my good friend, Lucky Guillermo, managing director of the documentaries, Dr. Ricardo Jose, historian and researcher and military historian Jose Custodio on my talkshow, Straight from the Sky.  These are the people who tell the stories of valor that should be seen by all Filipinos, especially the millennials who need to know about the bravery of the Filipino soldier.

While we in Cebu have our own guerrilla stories like what my late uncle and local hero Col. Manuel F. Segura would share with me. But one commonality with the Cebu guerrillas and the Hunters ROTC is that, they all belonged to the Reserved Officers Training Corps (ROTC). Aside from my being an ROTC graduate at the University of San Carlos (USC), stories like what we saw in “Unsurrendered” with the Hunter’s ROTC is the backbone of my belief that we should bring back the ROTC as a compulsory subject in our colleges and universities.

Finally, yesterday, I was blessed to interview also on my TV talkshow Straight from the Sky a rare breed of Filipinos, who are all persons with disabilities (PWD) except for their organizer JP Maunes and coach Christian Sy. At least 7 of the paddlers of the Philippine Accessible Disability Services Inc. (PADS) came to My TV studios to have this very emotional interview because they won the Gold Medal for the 60th Hong Kong International Dragon Boat Carnival (PARADRAGON).

We all know that when it comes to sports, Filipinos rarely bag any medals, much more a gold medal. What is remarkable in the PADs story is that the PADS has become the first ever Cross-Disability Dragon Boat Racing Team. Best of all, they won over six international teams of PWDs, but they were the only ones who were 100 percent PWD paddlers! Above all, the PWDs were not really athletes. They only trained for a year and worked hard to hammer themselves into a winning rowing machine!

All the PADs paddlers had various disabilities, including a blind paddler named Marvelous Jorda. I know that PADs had no government support, but surely the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) or even Pres. Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte should recognize these PWD Filipinos for winning gold for the Philippines… and that includes all of us able-bodied Filipinos!

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