BY VICTOR REYES

A MILITARY board will likely endorse the retention of the Medal of Valor award conferred by President Arroyo on a Scout Ranger officer and one his men, virtually dismissing the complaint of a fellow MOV awardee, Special Forces chief Brig. Gen. Arturo Ortiz.

Citing initial findings, Lt. Gen. Antonio Romero, chairman of a review board, said there were procedural errors in the conferment of the awards on Lt. Col. Noel Buan and Sgt. Leopoldo Diokno but there are no grounds to strip them of the highest combat award.

Romero said he is wrapping up his review of the report that has been signed by the four members of the review board.

The review was prompted by a complaint lodged by Ortiz who said Buan and Diokno deserve only the second highest combat medal, the Distinguished Conduct Star, for the April 4, 2004 killing of Abu Sayyaf leader Hamsiraji Sali and several of his men.

Buan was then a commander of a Scout Ranger battalion.

Ortiz has said Buan and Diokno do not deserve the MOV, saying there was an element of deceit in the feat.

The deception, according to sources, involved Buan's alleged violation of an agreement with Sali on the number of soldiers to be brought during negotiations for Sali's surrender. They did not elaborate.

The surrender talks failed and led to a firefight.

Weeks after the incident, President Arroyo visited the now-abolished Southern Command and said Buan might be given the Valor award. This was when the MOV Board had yet to start deliberations on a possible award grant.

During deliberations, a number of MOV awardees, including Ortiz and Lt. Col. Custodio Parcon, who were then sitting as board members, opposed the grant of the award on the ground that Buan employed "deceit and treachery" in the operation.

However, Lt. Gen. (ret.) Ariston delos Reyes, then the board chairman, changed the rules. Previously, the award was given with the "unanimous" vote of the 15-man board. Delos Reyes changed this to only two-thirds vote.

Delos Reyes, then AFP vice chief, is now defense undersecretary.

The change in the rules quelled opposition to the conferment of the award on Buan.

The MOV Board made its recommendation to then AFP chief Gen. Efren Abu, who then ruled that Diokno should also be given the award.

President Arroyo conferred the award on Buan and Diokno in 2004.

Ortiz pursued his complaint, with the support of other MOV awardees.

Romero said the review board saw "merely errors in the procedures."

"The facts of the case were there: There was the encounter; they got the top leadership of that (Abu Sayyaf) group. In fact they (Buan's group) lost two men. Our analysis is that if you are going to examine the act itself, there is no reason to take back (the awards). There were merely lapses by the Armed Forces in the procedure," said Romero.

Officials said procedures require that the grant of an award must be recommended by a lower unit.

On the oppositors' claim of treachery, Romero said while Sali had signified his intention to surrender to Buan, he brought his men to surround the area where the negotiations took place.