FORT DEL PILAR, Baguio City -- Cadets from Mindanao dominate this year's top graduates of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), who will march Tuesday afternoon to suit the schedule of their commander-in-chief, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Cadet First Class Ariel Rallos of Zamboanga City topped the 220-member PMA "Baghawi" Class of 2008. Baghawi is an abbreviation of Bagong Halaw ng Lahi.

Other topnotchers from Mindanao are Cadets First Class Dennis Legaspi of Zamboanga City, fourth; Vergel Lacambra of Pagadian City, fifth; Francisco Pondoyo of Zamboanga del Sur, seventh; Dennis Moreno of South Cotabato, ninth; and Vay Caballero of Cagayan de Oro, 10th.

Cadet First Class Bernard Joaquin of Pangasinan, brother of a PMA topnotcher, placed second while Cadet First Class Marc Louie Parado of Bulacan ranked eighth. Cadet First Class Carlo Catalan of Dumaguete City placed sixth.

The graduates will be commissioned as officers in the Armed Forces during graduation rites on Tuesday.

The only woman to graduate this year is Cadet First Class Me-Ann Sinson of Albay.

The PMA declined to discuss the schedule changes, which pushed the graduation from a Sunday to Tuesday afternoon.

Arroyo cancelled plans to join last month's PMA alumni homecoming after an alleged assassination plot against her which critics saw as a diversionary tactic by government to draw attention away from the political storm created by the national broadband network controversy.