Respect is earned, AFP chief tells PMA cadets

FRESH SUITS. Wearing their uniforms for the first time, 390 members of Philippine Military Academy Class of 2023 marched out to be incorporated in the cadet corps during rites held on Saturday (July 27) at Fort Del Pilar in Baguio City. Their families showed up to witness the event. VINCENT CABREZA

FORT DEL PILAR, Baguio City–“If you want to be respected, act respectable.”

That’s the sage advice given by Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Benjamin Madrigal Jr. to cadets belonging to Philippine Military Academy Class of 2023, who were formally incorporated into the Cadet Corps on Saturday (July 27).

As “keepers of peace, sources of hope, and defenders of the state and its people,” the new fourth-class cadets must “endure the pain and pass through all critical processes [because they] will need all the lessons from these experiences to make the decisions and attain meaningful accomplishments,” said Madrigal, a member of PMA “Sandiwa” Class of 1985.

The class is composed of 390 plebes, 80 of them women, who entered the academy on June 1, said Maj. Reynan Afan, PMA spokesman.

The new cadets marched out wearing their uniforms for the first time. Their families motored to PMA to witness the ceremony.

“There is no such thing as good enough. Good enough is never good enough. You did not go through rigorous training to display mediocrity. You spend your blood, sweat and tears to provide our people the kind of service they deserve,” Madrigal said.

He also advised them that how they act during training will reflect on how they perform in the real world while serving the Armed Forces of the Philippines. “The misdemeanor and offense of one of us erases the good perfomances of many others and thereby affects the overall image of the organization,” Madrigal said. VINCENT CABREZA /tsb