DND honors four AFP men, civilian employees

MANILA, Nov. 13 (PNA) -- In celebration of its 69th fruitful years of public service, the Department of National Defense (DND) on Wednesday honored four military officers for their outstanding contributions in cleansing the military’s pension payroll of illegitimate pensioners and 13 civilian employees for exemplary performance.

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro conferred the Outstanding Achievement Medal (OAM) to Philippine Navy's Capt. Cornelio Dela Cruz Jr.; Lt. Commander Brendo Casaclang; Lt. Commander Antonio Cantoria and Lt. Maynard Cabungcal in Camp Aguinaldo.

These officers were cited for their extraordinary achievements as members of the core group who led the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Pension Payroll Cleansing Operations through validation of the status of all pensioners.

For the first semester of 2008, about 4,100 illegitimate pensioners were removed from the pension payroll, generating a total savings of P40.33 million a month in the Pension budget for calendar year 2008.

Apart from enhancing the management of military’s pension funds by increasing the accuracy of payroll, they also conducted the cleansing of the rank and file of AFP offices and units involved in pension processing and stamping out fixers.

“We take pride in giving recognition to our personnel in the defense and military establishment instrumental in improving our services and in bringing us closer to our people,” said Teodoro.

He hoped this activity will be an inspiration to other defense and military personnel to continue their good work and demonstration of enduring capacity to meet the winds of crisis.

The OAM is awarded by the DND Secretary to military personnel of the AFP and citizens of the Republic of the Philippines, members of the Armed Forces and civilians of friendly foreign nations for distinguished, extraordinary achievement and service in the advancement of science, in socio-economic, technical and military fields related to national defense and for public service of the highest order.

During the ceremony, Teodoro also recognized deserving civilian employees from the DND, its bureaus, and the AFP, Office of Civil Defense (OCD), National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP), and Government Arsenal (GA).

Model Supervisors awardees were Marina Agustin (DND Proper); Dr. Hector Santos Jr (PVAO), Ruth Rodriguez (OCD), Cynthia De Vera (NDCP), and Engr. Jeaneth Espinosa (GA).

This year’s Model Employees were Julieta Dalisay (DND Proper), Dina Recato (AFP), Rogelio Conde (PVAO), Carlos Jose Roda (OCD), Eileen Torres (NDCP) and Ramon Ambrocio (GA).

In his speech, the defense chief underscored this year’s theme, “DND and the Filipino People: One Team. One Country. One Vision.” emphasizing the DND-AFP One Team concept which Teodoro has advocated since he assumed office in August 2007.