4 honor guards endure slow cortege

The Philippine STAR, Page 1

THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 2009

By JAMES MANANGHAYA
with stories from Jaime Laude, Cecille Suerte Felipe

For more than eight hours, they stood in snappy military
fashion, undaunted by rain and steadfast in form despite
the hunger everybody else experienced during the long
procession that brought the late former President Corazon
Aquino to her final resting place at Manila Memorial Park
in Paranaque City yesterday.

Army Pfc. Antonio Cadiente, Airman Second Class
Gener Laguindan, Navy Petty Officer 3 Edgardo Rodriguez
and Police Officer 1 Danilo Maalab, who served as honor
guards for Mrs. Aquino's remains, displayed exceptional
discipline in the performance of their extraordinary task.

The ride from the Manila Cathedral in Intramuros was
agonizingly slow due to tens of thousands who wanted to pay
their last respects to the leader they fondly call "Tita Cory,"
but the four men in uniform stood in finest tradition, adding
solemnity and honor to the ceremony.

Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner, Armed Forces of the Philippines
(AFP) spokesman told The STAR that the organization
is glad to have been given the chance to honor their
former Commander-in-Chief.

"And we are happy because
our soldiers and our police counterpart displayed our finest
tradition of discipline and professionalism."

Brawner said that the Army and Air Force soldiers came
from thei r mother unit' s escort battalions, while the Navy enlisted
man came from the office of reservist affairs. He said that after the exceptional
display of dedication to duty by these soldiers, the AFP
might recommend that they be given awards equivalent to
their recent task. "They were handpicked from the among the best our
honor guards. They can with stand hours and even a day I
without doing something but stand in attention. It's part of
their training. We call it discipline," Marine Lt. Col. Edgard
Arevalo, spokesman for the Philippine Navy (PN), said.

Also during the funeral rites, Mrs. Aquino's former security
chief, retired Lt. Gen. Voltaire Gazmin, her former junior military aide now Cavite
Rep. Jun Abaya and her former close-in escorts chief Lt. Gen. Jose Angel Homado
served as pallbearers at the Manila Memorial Park.

At the Manila Cathedral, senior police officers carried
her casket out of the church for the funeral march.
The Philippine National Police also rendered full honors
to the former President before she was laid to rest.

RP gives $20,000 to protect seamen

Manila Bulletin Sunday, July 26, 2009 7

By MADEL R. SABATER

In a bid to secure Filipino seafarers against piracy, President Arroyo has contributed US $20,OOO to the United Nations (UN) Trust Fund in Support of the Somali Transitional Security Institutions. The Department of Foreign Affairs(DFA) said the funds will be used by the Somalia's Transitional Federal Government to beef up its security forces which will play a critical role in combating sea piracy and their principals on land. The fund will be managed by the UN Political Office for Somalia. There are currently 44 Filipino seafarers in the hands of Somali pirates. The Philippine Government has imposed a ban on the deployment of .Filipino seafarers in the Gulf of Aden and surrounding areas. It recently designated a Philippine navy officer to act as naval liaison to the Combined Maritime Forces in Manama, Bahrain.

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Navy seizes over P10-M worth of smuggled goods

2 Tuesday July 28,2009

Manila Bulletin

By ELENA L. ABEN

The Philippine Navy has confiscated more than P10 million worth of smuggled goods, including some 10,800 sacks of Vietnamese rice and 4,000 sacks of refined sugar, during a maritime patrol in Sulu and Basilan. Navy spokesman, Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo, said reports reaching the Philippine Navy headquarters on Roxas Boulevard in Manila showed that BRP Jose Loor (PG 390), skippered by Lt. Reymond Umbac, was conducting maritime interdiction operation last week off Belan Point in Jolo when it sighted a watercraft transiting to Jun Dilan wharf in a suspicious manner. Arevalo said the Navy vessel immediately intercepted the watercraft and conducted board and search procedure. The watercraft with 12 crew and 10 passengers was identified M/L Menham and owned by a certain Hadji Hamsi Puntukan Hamsiraji. Inspection of the watercraft reportedly yielded some P8.25 million worth of dutiable goods comprised of 8,800 sacks of Vietnamese rice, 2,000 sacks of Thailand refined sugar, and other assorted food stuffs in cartons. Arevalo said it was also discovered that 800sacks of rice and 1,000sacksof sugar were misdeclared. The origin of the smuggled items is still unknown. The confiscated items were immediately turned over to the Bureau of Custom (BoC) Jolo port operation officer in the presence of Cdr. Ronnei Paba, Commander of the Naval Task Group "Sulu."Earlier, the Philippine Navy vessel IBRP Anastacio Cacayurin (PG387)'1skippered by Lt. Bernie Lim was also conducting maritime patrol in the west coast of Basilan province when it sighted an unknown watercraft transiting the vicinity northeast of Pilas Island. The Navy vessel immediately intercepted the watercraft and conducted board and search procedure. The watercraft was identified as M/L Fatima Zhiea operated by a certain Nursin Aukusa and owned by a certain Hji Eyam Kajibon of Isabela City. An inspection of the intercepted watercraft reportedly yielded some P2.7 million worth of dutiable goods from Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia.

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Philippine Navy steps up anti-terror operations

The manila Times thursday july 23, 2007 a7
By: AL JACINTO

ZAMBOANGA City: The Philippine Navy has stepped up its patrol in the southern region of Mindanao following the spate of bombings and attacks blamed on terrorists. Authorities blamed the lndonesian terror group Jemaah Islamiah and the Abu Sayyaf and Mora rebels for the series of bombings in Sulu and Mindanao in recent weeks that left scores of civilians among fatalities

and the wounded. Indonesia also tagged the Jemaah Islamiah for the recent suicide bombings of the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta, which killed nine people and wounded at least 53 others. We have stepped up our security patrol. We are fighting terrorism here,' said Admiral Alexander Pama, the Navy's regional commander in Mindanao. He said Navy gunboats regularly

patrol the Moro Gulf, the Mindanao, Sulu and Celebes seas where pirates are actively operating.

Last week, authorities seized some 350 kilos of banned ammonium nitrate and 1,800 pieces of blasting caps and detonating cords from a cargo vessel in Cebu that was heading for Iligan City in Mindanao. The spikes in bomb attacks in Mindanao and Sulu also coincided with the release of three kidnapped Red Cross workers held by the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiah. The military has last week deployed hundreds of soldiers in Basilan and Sulu provinces to crush

the Abu Sayyaf.

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