Sailor whose thumb got cut off in Ayungin mission wants to return to duty
AFP chief Gen. Romeo Brawner confers a wounded personnel medal to Seaman First Class Jeffrey Facundo, whose finger got cut off due to China Coast Guard’s action during the June 17 resupply mission in Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal. —INQUIRER.net/John Eric Mendoza
PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, PALAWAN, Philippines — The Navy seaman whose thumb was severed due to China Coast Guard’s (CCG) actions in the West Philippine Sea expressed willingness on Wednesday to return to duty once he recuperates.
Seaman First Class Jeffrey Facundo was confined at Camp Ricarte Station Hospital in the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) western command headquarters here.
AFP Chief of Staff General Romeo Brawner Jr. checked on Facundo, whose finger had to be amputated due to the CCG ramming the Philippine Navy sailors’ rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB) during the resupply mission for the BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal last June 17.
READ: PH Navy sailor loses thumb, others injured in CCG ramming incident
Facundo, who was lying in bed with a bandaged right hand and an intravenous drip in his left arm, was greeted by a crowd of military officials and media personnel armed with cellphones and cameras eager to get the best angle of the Navy sailor.
Article continues after this advertisementBrawner asked Facundo: “Once you recover, do you have plans of returning [to duty]?”
Article continues after this advertisement“Yes sir, any time, as long as there is an order,” he responded.
Good attitude
“Very good, that is a good attitude,” Brawner said.
During his brief visit, Brawner also conferred a wounded personnel medal to Facundo.
“As we said, this is the hardest medal to acquire,” Brawner said in jest, which was met with laughs and applause.
He continued: “Rest well and don’t lose hope. If you need something, just tell us.”
Facundo was then bombarded with questions from the media about the latest mission, and he replied to each one by saying, “Only our higher-ups could respond to that.”
The CCG rammed, towed, and even boarded Philippine vessels in the recent incident, a move which its spokesperson Gan Yu called “control measures” against the Filipino resupply boats, as China feared that Filipino personnel brought construction materials for the BRP Sierra Madre.
The BRP Sierra Madre is a dilapidated World War II-era warship grounded in Ayungin Shoal since 1999 to assert the Philippines’ sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea backed by a 2016 international tribunal ruling which China continues to disregard.
AFP Western Command chief Rear Admiral Alfonso Torres, in a press conference after the visit to Facundo, also said “seven firearms were looted and forcibly taken” by the CCG which were “inside gun cases” and were not used during the resupply mission.
Torres also said the CCG destroyed the RHIB’s outboard motor and “looted” Navy personnel’s communication and navigational equipment and even the troops’ personal phones.
Brawner also said in the presser, “Despite the fact that one of our personnel had an injury, we will continue our [resupply] operations.”
“It is our right, it is our obligation to do that,” he said.
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