HIGHEST AWARD. Outgoing Armed Forces chief of staff, Gen. Cirilito. Sobejana, then a captain, is awarded the Medal of Valor by Defense Secretary Renato de Villa for leading his men against the Abu Sayyaf Group in Basilan in 1995. Sobejana’s right arm was nearly amputated. (Photo courtesy of Philippine Army)
MANILA – Outgoing Armed Forces (AFP) chief of staff, Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, on Wednesday visited the very spot in Sitio Sweet Jackal in Matarling, Basilan, where he was seriously wounded during a five-hour gun battle between his 16-man Army Scout Rangers and more than 150 Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) terrorists 26 years ago.
Sobejana’s visit to the encounter site in Basilan was made three days before he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 56 on Saturday.
That armed clash earned Sobejana, then a captain, the Medal of Valor, the highest military award for bravery in combat.
“It was a nostalgic visit,” Sobejana said in a text message to the Philippine News Agency, describing his trip to the island of Basilan where the ASG clandestinely hid for six years before they were uncovered by Sobejana and his men after a nine-year old boy reported to the soldiers the presence of heavily armed men in the area.
When Sobejana arrived at the site of the bloody fighting on Jan. 13, 1995, a Friday, he vividly recalled how his men, including two Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) members, gallantly stood their ground.
Two Scout Rangers, now Master Sergeants Edward Lonio and Edgar Pino, testified how Sobejana ordered his men not to retreat although they were outnumbered.
Pino and Lonio are members of the security group of Sobejana, the 55th chief of staff of the AFP.
Serious injury
Sobejana vowed to build a monument at the site of the encounter in honor of the brave soldiers and civilian armed group and the casualties -- five Scout Rangers and two CAFGU members.
Nine soldiers, including Sobejana, were wounded.
The AFP chief’s right arm was almost amputated but the doctor at the Camp General Basilio Navarro General Hospital in Zamboanga, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Rene Runas, averted it.
Sobejana then underwent several surgical procedures in the US.
Aside from a well-drawn battle plan, Sobejana said they prayed for the Lord’s protection as they were outnumbered by the ASG led by its late founder, Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani.
“At the height of the battle, I was slightly hit in the face. I glanced at my watch it was 2:30 p.m. My men and I continued fighting and firing at the enemy. I was again hit. This time, it was my right arm. The bullet from an M14 assault rifle shattered the bones. It was hit so badly, only the skin prevented it from falling off,” Sobejana, a native of Negros Oriental, narrated in previous interviews.
“I stretched my left hand to hold and save my right hand. The pain was excruciating. As I did this, I could hear bullets buzzing just a few inches from where I was lying down. Mortar shells and rockets fell all over.”
Reinforcement from the Philippine Army’s 1st Armor Battalion flew Sobejana and his men out of the site. (PNA)
