R.A. 9049 Medal of Valor Benefits

Tagalog Version (Click Here)

Before we talk about the Medal of Valor benefits under R.A. 9049, let me share with you a little story that happened last April of 1996…

One fateful night near Barangay Sinepetan, a huge group of over 400 heavily armed Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels marched towards the town of Carmen in North Cotabato. Due to the overwhelming number of hostile forces, some AFP officers in the area have been told to stand down.

One Scout Ranger officer, however, decided to ignore that order to save the town of Carmen. That night, in what’s widely considered one of the most dangerous missions ever done by an elite unit in the AFP,  Capt. Robert Edward Lucero took an elite team of 14 Scout Rangers and they went on to attack the rebels directly.

For 9 hours, the small team held the line to protect the town of Carmen without receiving any backup or support. As they ran out of bullets and grenades, Capt. Lucero noticed the enemy 50 Cal. machine gun and the mortars that caused the most casualties to his team. In an all-or-nothing gamble, he stealthily crawled through the battlefield alone using the cover of darkness to his advantage. Through his act of courage, he was able to kill the rebel machine gunner, and take control of the machine gun from within enemy lines. By killing over 29 enemy rebels and their commander named Mangyan, he was able to turn the tide of battle, thus forcing most of the rebels to flee.

While firing at the remaining rebels, tending to his wounded comrades and maneuvering them to safer positions, Capt. Lucero, unfortunately, was shot in the head by an enemy sniper and was killed in battle.

He paid the ultimate sacrifice in service of the country.

That… was the story of my father, Capt. Robert Edward M. Lucero. “The Hero of Carmen, Cotabato”, he is one of the rare few who have been awarded the Medal of Valor, the highest combat award in the Philippine military.

What is the Medal of Valor?

The Medal of Valor is the highest combat award in the Philippine military and it is given to soldiers who perform deeds of “personal bravery or self-sacrifice above and beyond the call of duty so conspicuously as to distinguish him above his comrades.” It is so incredibly rare and difficult to obtain that in the entire history of the Philippines, in all its wars and history of combat against terrorists and rebels, there have only been approximately 41 awardees as of this writing.

In gratitude of the great bravery and distinguished service that these heroes have done for the country, the Medal of Valor awardees and their dependents/beneficiaries (spouse, children, and even parents) receive numerous benefits courtesy of the Philippine Government.

R.A. 9049 Medal of Valor List of Benefits (Short Version)

NOTICE: To restaurants, malls, transportation companies, hospitals, etc., these benefits can be claimed as TAX CREDITS (see section 3 of R.A. 9049 and section 16 of the IRR). These benefits apply to private and public companies and it works similar to PWD, student, and senior citizen discounts.

• Monthly tax-free lifetime gratuity (pension) to the awardee.
  • Upon death of the awardee, it transfers to the surviving spouse, or children if they aren’t over 18.
• Free medical and dental services in public or private hospitals.
• Exemption from payment of tuition and matriculation fees in private and public schools and universities.
• 20% discount in admission fees, transportation services, lodging establishments, restaurants, recreation and sports centers, purchase of medicine, etc.
• Priority in government employment.
• Priority in acquisition and lease of public land, as well as priority in the approval of housing applications in gov’t. housing programs.
• The ability to obtain financial loans from gov’t. owned or controlled financial institutions without collateral or constitute any pledge or mortgage to secure them.

*Note: I’ve tried to summarize the benefits as best as I can here. For the full details, please check R.A. 9049 and its implementing rules and regulations.

Medal of Valor Implementing Rules and Regulations – R.A. 9049 I.R.R.

Here’s a scanned copy of the latest R.A. 9049 IRR that we received from the Department of National Defense (DND). 

Note: If it’s too small, try right-clicking it and click “open image in new tab”.

If you want to learn more about R.A. 9049 and the Medal of Valor benefits, check out these government articles below!

• “Republic Act No. 9049” (Official Gazette of the Philippines)
• “REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9049” AN ACT GRANTING MONTHLY GRATUITY AND PRIVILEGES TO AN AWARDEE OF THE MEDAL OF VALOR, PROVIDING FUNDS THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES (Lawphil.net)
• “IRR on privileges for Medal of Valor awardees signed” (PNA article, August 2019)

Some final notes from me:

Our family has been very thankful for all the benefits that the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine government has decided to award our father, Robert. Even though he is no longer with us, he continues to provide for our family and let us live in relative comfort.

Thanks to the free tuition, I was able to become a government scholar in the Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City and my younger brother became a scholar in De La Salle Taft.

The 20% discount in most establishments are very difficult to obtain though as almost NOBODY knows about it. After all, there’s more or less just 20 families IN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY/WORLD who have these benefits, so most businesses don’t have the discount in their accounting systems.

There ARE a few establishments who have already implemented it though and we were able to avail of the discount. I will probably add more to this list as we go along.

• Starbucks (Philippine branches)
• St. Luke’s Medical Center (Taguig)
• Nhà Em (SM Aura)
• Niu (SM Aura)
• Botejyu (BGC)

For now, I’m personally working on introducing this to local malls, Mercury Drug, Watson’s Pharmacy, GrabPH, airline companies, and more. It works similar to senior citizen’s discounts and PWD discounts anyway and the companies can claim it as tax credits, but it’s just extremely rare and not well known.

In any case, I hope you found this article informative. If you want more details, just ask us in the comments section below!