Medal of Valor awardee Querubin files COC for senator

Retired Marine Colonel Ariel Querubin, a Medal of Valor awardee, is joining the senatorial race for Eleksyon 2025 as he filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) on Monday.

Querubin vowed to fight for the country’s territorial rights in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) should he secure a Senate seat in 2025.

He will be running as an independent candidate but will be supported by the Nacionalista Party (NP).

“Bilang isang retiradong Marine, 'di natin kaya na nakaupo at nanonood lang habang paulit-ulit nila tayong inaapi sa WPS. Protektahan natin ito at ipaglaban ang ating kaparatan. Ito ay para sa seguridad natin at kinabuksan,” he said.

(As a retired Marine, we cannot just watch as our fellow Filipinos are being harassed in the West Philippine Sea. We should protect it for our security and our future.)

“Hindi dapat tayo forever na nagde-depend sa isang super power. Kung kaya natin tumindig sa ating sarili, napakaganda ng Pilipinas kasi 'yung strategic location niya pinag-aagawan ng super powers… Kasi kung sino man ang bibigyan ng suporta ng Pilipinas, kino-control niya ang Asia-Pacific. Dapat i-modernize natin kasi ang labanan dito, it’s all preponderance of forces,” he added.

(We should never be dependent on a single super power forever. If we can stand on our own two feet, it's a good thing because the Philippines’ strategic location is coveted by super powers. Whoever the Philippines will support controls the Asia-Pacific. We need to modernize because the battle here is a preponderance of forces.)

The retired soldier lodged his COC with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) at the Manila Hotel Tent City. He was joined by Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong.

In July, Querubin, a member of Philippine Military Academy Class 1979, announced his Senate run at a gathering of former military and police officials in San Juan.

Then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo awarded Querubin the Medal of Valor in 2001.

He was awarded for his "acts of conspicuous courage, gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty" for fighting Moro rebels.

In March 2000, Querubin was the commanding officer of Marine Battalion Landing Team-1 that staged a 24-hour firefight against an estimated 300 fully armed men belonging to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the village of Inudaran, Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte. Querubin's team captured the perceived formidable MILF Camp John Mack. —KG, GMA Integrated News