For PAF pilots’ greater safety, Defensor suggests talismans, sacramentals

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga - Anting-antings and sacred objects as safety precautions in Air Force planes?

Why not? said Air Force chief Lt. Gen. Benjamin Defensor who thinks that talismans and sacramentals inside military planes might work for the pilots’ greater safety, even their victory against the enemies.

He particularly suggested that Air Force pilots install in their aircraft, or wear on their person, the Miraculous Medal, the medal-cross of St. Benedict, or the rosary.

In his speech during the launch of a book-manual of the 600th Air Force Wing here, Defensor also suggested that all aircraft of the Air Force be blessed anew by priests.

Last Monday, an S-211 trainer plane crashed in a populated area in Barangay Garcia in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, killing its pilot and co-pilot and five civilians. "The effects of the holy water might have already worn off," he said in jest.

But he’s dead serious about the sacramentals. He, in fact, attributes Air Force victories in Mindanao to divine intervention through these religious objects.

"When we were fighting the Moro National Liberation Front when I was still tactical operations commander," he recalled, "the Carmelite Sisters, who were quite close to me, recommended that we place the Miraculous Medal and the rosary in our aircraft. They gave each one of the pilots a medal and a rosary."

If one talisman is not quite effective, there’s always another one to take its place. When an aircraft equipped with a Miraculous Medal crashed a few years ago, a priest recommended to Defensor the use of the medal-cross of St. Benedict instead.

The Miraculous Medal is believed to have been molded upon the instruction of the Blessed Virgin Mary when she appeared to St. Catherine Laboure near the end of the 19th century.

The cross-medal of St. Benedict, on the other hand, is believed to assure its wearer spiritual salvation at the moment of death.

Defensor sincerely believes that his talismans are more powerful than those of his enemies. "Nothing can outpower them," he boasted.

It was also his great faith in divine guidance, he said, that led him to install the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus at the Mactan Air Base in Cebu.

"Initially, we had wanted a statue of the Blessed Virgin with the Infant Jesus, but we thought it might be too poignant for soldiers who leave their wives and children behind in the performance of their duties," he said.