Cotabato LGUs should honor new West Pointer, Mom

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Congratulation to my town mate Fely Arzaga Eichenberger and her son Eli, 22, who will conclude this Sunday his four years tough academic and regimental trainings at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York.

Eli and mom Fely Arzaga would be in their town M’lang, Cotabato province next month for some “rest and recreation” and probably sentimental journey where Fely, a daughter of a carpenter and a housewife (they were our neighbor) migrated in the United States in 1992 and married Mark -  a veteran  commissioned air force officer.  (Click here for my lengthy article’s Fil-Am to Graduate this Weekend at West Point.

NEIGHBOR - The former Fely Arzaga (extreme left),  her West Point's cadet son Eli Arzaga Eichneberger, and former military professor Gabriel Ortigoza of the Philippine Military Academy.The Arzagas and the Ortigozas were former neighbor in the rustic town M'lang,
Cotabato Province. Photo taken at the United States Military Academy at West Point,
New York.

I hope the local government units (LGU) of M’lang and the Province of Cotabato can confer their appreciation just like what the LGU of Pangasinan and its towns gave importance to graduates and heroes in their sons from the Philippine Military Academy – a premier military college in Asia copied from USMA – based at Fort del Pilar, Baguio City my and my siblings’ birthplace.

Here are some excerpts of the news of my 44 towns 4 cities’ province in Northern Luzon in bestowing plaudits to its sons and daughters that came from The Long Gray Line.

“Leading the provincial government of Pangasinan in welcoming the eight out of the sixteen Philippine Military Academy (PMA) 2018 graduates of the ‘Alab Tala’ class who are from Pangasinan, Governor Amado I. Espino III extols the public servants engaged in military service for their dedication in winning the peace of the country”.

Here’s my news article titled “Why sharpshooters are glamorized,glorified?”

Alumni of the Philippine Military Academy's Class of 2018 being 
honored by the governor of Pangasinan at the Capitol in Lingayen.
Photo Credit: Provincial Information Office

 “Can you still remember that famous and courageous soldier who took off his Kevlar helmet and bullet vest as quid pro quo to ISIS rebels in Marawi City so he could save a four years old girl  and other Christian hostages from the ISIS rebels in Marawi City in exchange of containers of water, soft drinks, and biscuits?

Yap, he is Army Captain Jeffrey Buada, commander of the 15th Scout Ranger Company.

After he was feted recently by his town Mangaldan in Pangasinan for his exemplary courage in Marawi, I asked Buada, a graduate of the Philippine Military Academy, about those incidents while we consumed our snacks treated by Mangaldan, Pangasinan Mayor Bona Fe D. Parayno and the town’s chief of Police Superintendent Jeff Fanged (Alumnus of the PNPA).

 Buada’s wife told me that the spouse is a sniper, too.

Indeed he was as I saw earlier on his shoulder badge a sniper’s logo embroidered with a glaring red word “Sniper”.

Scout Ranger Captain Jeff Buada (center), a sniper, shares snack with Mangaldan Mayor Bona Fe D. Parayno (extreme left) and his wife after the mayor fetes him because of his exemplary courage in the war in Marawi City.

***

 Gee whiz, after I wrote a blog/column last Thursday about the commencement of West Point Class of 2018 where Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph F. Dunford, Jr will be the graduation speaker of the 950 cadets (from the original batch of 1,223 men and women) that will be graduating at the former “S” curved garrison of the Continental Army to prevent and neutralize the British Navy sailing upriver, l saw last Friday President Donald Trump graced the 1,000 mid ship men graduates of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis in Maryland as seen on CNN.

Does Trump favors  the academy with a Latin motto: Ex Scientia Tridens (Through Knowledge, Sea Power) where Filipinos like Enrique L. Jurado (USNA '34), Carlos Albert (USNA '39), Carlito Cunanan (USNA '58), Roilo Golez (USNA '70), Joseph Emilio Abaya (USNA '88), Maximo Mejia (USNA '88), Hanna Lea Alerta (USNA 2004), John Berjuega (USNA 2008),Carl Catalan (USNA 2008), and, Chinna Louise E. Salio (USNA 2013), than the Army’s Academy with proud motto's “Duty, Honor, Country where its proud Filipino alumni are Vicente Podico Lim (USMA '14), Rafael Ileto (USMA '43), Fidel Ramos (USMA '50), Florencio Magsino (USMA '51), Gregorio Vigilar (USMA '53),
Thelmo Cunanan (USMA '61), Narciso Abaya (USMA '71), Danilo Lim (USMA '78), Jose Rene N. Jarque (USMA '86), Dennis Eclarin (USMA '93), Floren P. Herrera (USMA 2013), and Don Stanley Dalisay (USMA 2017).

***

Oh by the way, Sta. Barbara, Pangasinan’s pride Police Colonel Eric Noble (PMA Class of 1992) who is the present Philippines Police Attache’ in California asked me when I commented at the Face Book’s board of my brother Gabriel, former military professor at the PMA and who is at West Point now) if when I will visit him and my younger sibling at their Area of Responsibility in the U.S.

ERIC (Former police provincial director of Cebu and book author):  Bay kumusta, kanus-a ka mabisita sa among AOR ni Gabriel Ortigoza (When are you going to visit our AOR ?)?

ME: Antam lay mam Bisaya (Eric knew already how to speak Visaya) General Eric Noble, an Officer and a Gentleman. Di pa tumawag iyong fiancee ko na Negra hi hi.

Eric has a cadet son, Eric Joseph Dionco Noble (Class of 2020), at the United States Coast Guard Academy in Washington DC. The USCGA has a motto’s Semper Paratus (Always Ready). After 2020, the only two graduates (Niño Jhanus Aniban (USCGA 2015) and Jayner Cabral (USCGA 2015) of the Academy in Washington DC will have a third member of its alumni in Eric Joseph.

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS FROM THE PMA WHO STUDY NOW AT USMA.

(You can read my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)