(Photos courtesy of: Mr. Gabriel Ortigoza)

by Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol

Chairman, Mindanao Development Authority

As the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) honors young Filipino soldiers who fought in the Korean War 70 Years Ago, the first to come forward and be counted is our own living hero in M'lang, North Cotabato, Lt. Marcelo Ortigoza, Sr.

Lt. Ortigoza now lives with his wife, Daisy, a pianist, in a farm in Dugong, Mlang where he turned to farming after his retirement from the Armed Forces in 1981.

Returning home from Korea after the war, Lt. Ortigoza was assigned to the Philippine Military Academy where he taught Tactics.

In 1972 he was assigned in Awang until his retirement in 1981.

Now 92, Lt. Ortigoza remains sprite and physically fit and is a proud father to three children, Marcelo, Jr., a journalist based in Pangasinan, Gabriel, himself a former PMA instructor and now nurse in California and Sadie who is also a nurse based in Sacramento, California.

The Mindanao Development Authority salutes Lt. Marcelo Ortigoza Sr. and honors him as a living hero of Mindanao!