President Benigno Aquino III on Friday, December 20, posthumously bestowed the Medal of Valor, the highest military honor, on First Lieutenant Ian Paquit for his bravery in the
He died after he intentionally put himself
in the line of fire to save his team. He was 21.
It was the 3rd week of the standoff with
the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) when his team, the 3rd Scout Rangers
Company, was trapped in heavy exchanges of fire in Barangay Sta Barbara.
To allow the troops to reposition, Pacquit
left his covered position to get a better line of sight and provide cover fire.
"With the courage, dedication and
sacrifice of Private First Class Ian Pacquit, further casualties were avoided
and the neutralization of enemy firing positions greatly contributed to the
clearing and capture of enemy strongholds," according to the military
report.
His heroic move resulted in the capture of
41 MNLF rebels and the death of another 15.
It proved costly for Pacquit, however.
Bullets came flying and they hit his left neck. He was brought to hospital, his
second trip there for that military operation against the MNLF.
He was wounded earlier, on Week 1, when a
shrapnel hit his face. He was brought to the hospital but immediately asked to
be returned to the combat zone.
The Medal of Valor award entitles a
soldier to a string of benefits, including scholarship for his dependents.
Pacquit was not married, however. His 16-year-old brother is mulling options to
enter the Philippine Military Academy.
The Zamboanga standoff was an urban
warfare in the worst possible place. In the heavily populated coastal
barangays, there were many occasions when the soldiers were a few meters away
from the MNLF rebels and their hostages.
They could see them from across the street
or they were just inside the next building. They were shouting invectives at
each other. But the soldiers could not shoot or throw bombs without hurting the
hostages whom the rebels had turned into human shield.
Eighteen soldiers died in the 20-day standoff,
but the military considers it a successful operation because they saved most of
the hostages. Two out of 198 hostages died.
http://www.rappler.com/nation/46297-highest-military-honor-zambo-soldier
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