Marawi heroes awarded Gold Cross medals

Two officers and four enlisted personnel of the Philippine Marines Corps were awarded by the Armed Forces of the Philippines-Western Mindanao Command (AFP-WestMinCom) Chief on Monday.

First Lieutenants Bobby Gabayno and Kim Adrian Martal, Sergeants Lito Malana and Sherwin Seraspe, and Corporals Johnson Curato, and Rodrigo Palting Jr. were awarded with the Gold Cross Medal for their gallantry in action during an armed engagement with an undetermined number of local terrorist group Maute in Marawi City.

A command plaque was also presented to Rear Admiral Rene V. Medina, the commander of the Naval Forces Western Mindanao, for his outstanding leadership and sterling management skills as commander of the Naval Forces Western Mindanao Command.

Medina’s leadership led to the interception of the plan of the Daeshinspired terrorists to gain control of Marawi City and turn it into a caliphate, which prompted the conduct of focused military operations for almost five months against more or less 900 members of the Maute-ASG-ISIS that resulted in the clearing of Marawi City.

Three personnel from the Naval Intelligence and Service Group-Western Mindanao were also awarded by Lt. Gen. Carlito G. Galvez Jr., the commander of the Western Mindanao Command, with the Distinguished Navy Cross and the Military Merit Medal for their distinguished and meritorious accomplishments in Marawi City.

“I would like to congratulate all the awardees for their well-deserved medals and awards,” Galvez said.

“Their meritorious and extraordinary achievements is but fitting for the given recognitions.

“They made the AFP proud and the entire Filipino nation as well,” he added.