Sgt. Jose Tubil (in wheelchair) flanked by Scout Rangers from the 3rd Scout Ranger Battalion led by its Commanding Officer Lt. Col. Elmer B. Suderio (standing 4th from right) during a visit to bring him cash and donations in kind. Photo from AFP-PAO
Ex-Scout Ranger Sergeant Jose Tubil, an awardee of the Distinguished Conduct Star for leading his men in combat, has appealed to concerned officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to allow him to retire so that he can claim his benefits after 31 years in service.
In 1998, Sergeant Tubil led 17 members of the Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit (CAFGU) to reinforce a cornered team of police officers at a firefight that resulted in the demise of the demise of an Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) founder in Barangay Tumakid, Lamitan City, Basilan.
During that firefight, Tubil and his men killed Abdujarak Abubakar Janjalani and his assistant. Janjalani was the elder brother of his successor, Khadaffy Janjalani, who also perished in an encounter with government forces in September 2006 in Patikul, Sulu.
Tubil, who is turning 58 years old this coming December, uses a wheelchair because of wounds sustained in an ambush by lawless elements in 2008, also in Lamitan City.
"He fought off his attackers and killed three of them using only a pistol," relates Lt Col. Harold Cabunoc, former Public Affairs Office chief of the AFP.
Cabunoc said he and Tubil had spent time together in many southern Mindanao armed clashes.
Tubil laments that the processing of his retirement papers has been stalled after he applied for compulsory retirement on December 1, 2014 at the office of the chief of staff of the Army's 1st Infantry Division because of three "missing" Garand rifles.
According to Tubil, he forgot to make an accounting of the three rifles issued to his three CAFGU elements but had officially turned over these to his successor.
Division commander Maj. Gen. Gerardo Barrientos said he would check into Tubil's case with his chief of staff.
"I acknowledge it was my lapse and my responsibility. And my successor at the time did not bother to vouch that the guns were still with the three CAFGU man. But, please, I'm asking concerned officers not to deny me my retirement benefits because of this. If I have to pay for the 'lost' guns, then I'll pay for them after receiving my lump-sum retirement pay. I want my retirement to be in order. I deserve it," he said, in Tagalog.
Tubil's Distinguished Conduct Star, the second highest military award for heroism from the battlefield, was given to him personally by then President Joseph Estrada.
Tubil recalled he quickly gathered his 17 CAFGU elements after they heard automatic gunfire about a kilometer away from their detachment.
"We quickly reached the position of the pinned down policemen and saw their leader, a chief inspector and another one, already dead. Some of them were seriously wounded and running out of ammunition. I commanded the still able cops to secure their casualties and we will take care of the enemy. I broke my unit into four teams, quickly drew the assault maneuvers and the battle raged again," Tubil said.
Equally armed with M14 and Garand riffles as the enemy, Tubil's men outmaneuvered the enemy and killed their leader and his assistant. He said the bandits were forced to withdraw with their wounded companions and left behind their two dead leaders.
"The autopsy reports proved that the bullets taken out of the bodies were from our M14 and Garand rifles. The policemen that we reinforced were armed with M16 and pistols. After the bandits fled, my battalion commander ordered us to just let the police bring them to the municipal hall," Tubil further recalled.
"That's the real story," he added.
"He is a veteran of various campaigns against lawless elements both in Basilan and Sulu," Cabunoc says of Tubil. "He is now practically in hiding due to grave threats to his life. He could not walk and has endured life's struggles because of his unprocessed retirement papers."
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/117975/hero-ex-scout-ranger-sergeant-pines-for-retirement-benefits
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