Recently-confirmed Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff General Antonio Nafarrete with former House Deputy Speaker and AFP reserve officer Michael Romero at the House of Representatives last August 13, 2026. Photo from Romero’s office.
COL Dencio S. Acop (Ret), PhD, CPP | August 26, 2026
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS — Soon after I saw that photo of Michael Romero with Philippine Armed Forces Chief General Antonio Nafarrete, combined feelings of disgust and anger quickly filled me. Both men were in formal military uniform as it was the confirmation of newly promoted senior officers by the Commission on Appointments. But the nine layers of awards and decorations on one chest versus the eight layers of the same on the other just beside it told a starkly different story. For one was true, but the other wasn’t. The one with the nine layers also had a total of twelve wings and badges while the other only had nine.
For a moment there, I thought I was looking at a pseudo real photo enhanced by AI. Then, I realized it was a real photo. How could it be? How can a part-time, reservist officer with the Philippine Air Force Reserve Command, have more service medals and decorations than the Chief of Staff who spent more than thirty years of active-duty, full-time military service as a regular army career officer? If I had never served in the military myself, I probably would have left the issue alone at that. But the problem is that I too had served. And, therefore, I know the truth versus the fake when it comes to these things in the military, especially in the Philippines. (Also read: Character Leadership Matters: West Point and My Leadership Journey)
I also couldn’t move past it without giving due justice to all the men and women of the Armed Forces of the Philippines who’ve truly earned such tokens of recognition and promotions falsely claimed by Romero. Many of these men and women dearly paid the ultimate sacrifice for their country and only these men and women of such caliber deserve the honor. Certainly not Romero and his kind. I will never allow him to dishonor the noble profession of arms by his thick-faced conduct just because he is a billionaire who thinks that everything can be bought.
If Romero truly wants to be deserving of the honors he claims just for his own ego, I will challenge him to emulate the deeds of Lieutenant General Arturo Ortiz, a Medal of Valor Awardee I truly admire. I have just written about him too. I will advise Romero to go and earn them, especially his combat awards.
Shameless as Romero is, he went around wearing the most medals, wings, and badges as if having the superlative number of these made the wearer a winner. Never mind that most of them are undeserved or outright fake. Ortiz himself has fewer layers. I have six, including my Distinguished Conduct Star.
Truth is that the issue at stake here is not so much about the narcissistic ego of one dysfunctional individual more than the irreparable damage such spectacle has caused the morale and welfare of the men and women of our armed forces and its impact upon the effectiveness and efficiency of the AFP as a fighting machine. Especially during these times.
Awards, decorations, wings, and badges on a military uniform are not mere “decorations” as those displayed in houses or halls. If they were, they would have had no meaning. The one word that characterizes each one of those attachments to the uniform is HONOR. And it is the one word that escapes Romero, and all pretenders like him, in its sublimest sense. Let us scrutinize the claimed awards and decorations of this usurper.
If one bears with me, the awards displayed on his undeserving chest are: Gold Cross, Silver Cross, Bronze Cross, Distinguished Aviation Cross, Distinguished Service Medal, Luzon Campaign, Visayas Campaign, Mindanao Campaign, Gawad sa Kapayapaan, Meritorious Achievement Medal, CSAFP Commendation Medal, Gawad sa Kaunlaran, Silver Wing, Military Merit Medal, Sagisag ng Ulirang Kawal, Military Civic Action Medal, Parangal sa Kapanalig ng SLP, PSG Ribbon, Anti-Dissidence Campaign Ribbon, Military Commendation Medal, KIG Ribbon, and Disaster-Rehabilitation-Relief Ribbon.
Many of Romero’s medals and ribbons even have appurtenances attached to them. This means that he has supposedly “earned” each one not just once but repeatedly. To justify his awards, what are enumerated on his statement of service in the AFP Reserve Force are the following. First, he co-authored the 2018 AFP Salary Standardization Measures. Second, as deputy speaker in 2021, he facilitated the acquisition of three C-130’s for the Philippine Air Force.
What he has done as a congressman deserves no medal though from the AFP because it is his ordinary duty as a party-list representative to formulate public policy. Third, he had been involved, not necessarily personally, in more than 60 civil-military operations and humanitarian assistance (medical/dental) missions, including disaster relief. Such missions reached as far as Pag-asa Island, Batanes, Basilan, Jolo, Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga, and North Cotabato.
With this list of achievements, the only awards and decorations which would qualify as truly “earned” by Romero would be the Military Civic Action Medal, Gawad sa Kaunlaran, Parangal sa Kapanalig ng SLP, Military Commendation Medal, and Disaster-Rehabilitation-Relief Ribbon. With this number of medals, Romero’s chest would bear no more than two layers, which is more like it.
Romero would not have qualified for the combat awards like the Gold Cross and Distinguished Aviation Cross because he has never seen direct action against the enemy. He would also not have qualified even for the campaign ribbons throughout the archipelago, including the Anti-Dissidence Campaign Medal and Ribbon, because he has not been assigned full-time in any combat area in either Luzon, Visayas, or Mindanao for at least six months.
How did he get a PSG Ribbon when he was never assigned to the Presidential Security Group, a full-time, active-duty assignment? The rest of the awards he claims to have been given to him, other than those I have already refuted, are awards and decorations normally given to active-duty members of the AFP because of their meritorious actions against the enemy above and beyond the call of duty.
How can a reservist, who is not full-time and not having been directly engaged in actions against the enemy, have been awarded the honors he proudly wears on his uniform chest? The same goes with the wings and badges he claims to have won.
How did he earn a GSC badge when he only attended twice at the AFP Command and General Staff College? A classmate of his volunteered the information that he only attended when the class had a “boodle fight” and when there was a VIP who visited.
The same is true with his alleged other courses where he would only show up once or twice and yet, he was allowed to graduate from these courses justifying his promotion up the ladder. How can he have combat wings when he never saw combat of any kind? Normally, earning wings necessitates reaching a certain number of combat jumps or sorties before being awarded such.
Through it all, why would he even be willing to receive such awards if he knew he didn’t deserve them? More importantly, who are the individuals or offices within the Department of National Defense-Armed Forces of the Philippines who gave him these undeserved honors and why?
If a great disservice is perpetrated, it is usually the people at the higher echelons of organizations who are chiefly responsible and accountable. Ideally, there is nothing that goes on within institutions and organizations which escapes the people in charge of these organizations.
It is almost impossible for rank-and-file, much more external people, to pull off a caper of such magnitude as Romero had done without enablers in the institutions he has had to deal with in accumulating the fake medals and badges, he managed to acquire within just a brief period of five years. The chances of him pulling it off alone or by just scheming with low-level clerks are highly unlikely or even impossible!
More significantly, it is even a greater disservice for active-duty soldiers, airmen, sailors, and marines to be bypassed by honors they rightfully deserve by their actions in the field while they witness an undeserving reservist flout his undeserved medals right in their faces through social media.
In their minds, they cannot help wondering about the double standards that seem to characterize their administrative operating environment even as they are mandated to perform the difficult task, often at the risk of life and limb, of securing the national territory and of protecting national sovereignty at all costs. Through all the episodes of corruption going on affecting key government institutions, it wouldn’t be too far from their consciousness to wonder if the fact that Romero is a billionaire and former congressman had something to do with this brazen spectacle.
Already, there are murmurings to the effect that a presidential wannabe in the 2028 national elections is allegedly courting the support of potential campaign contributor Romero in exchange for the usual mutual favors. By any means, the cat is already out of the bag through the public exposes on Romero’s excessive indiscretions enabled by powerful individuals in the defense establishment. Romero’s resignation does not exculpate him from violations of law and regulations he must now be made to answer to. In fact, if he did not violate anything, then why did he resign in the first place? Is his resignation a face-saving measure?
Now, it behooves the DND-AFP to get to the bottom of this latest scandal affecting no less than a tradition of honor that glues the military psyche together motivating its members to keep fighting even an uphill battle to preserve the nation and achieve a greater good beyond themselves for all of us. In this regard, the nation needs its military — officers and men — now more than ever as the country is threatened by an external aggressor not seen since World War II.
Now is not the time to demoralize our fighting men and women in uniform through allowing usurpation of the one intangible thing that keeps them together and reliable in times of actual war – HONOR.
