350 plebes enter Philippine Military Academy

FUTURE LEADERS Fort Del Pilar opened its gates for 350 new cadets who make up Class of 2025 in the Philippine Military Academy Corps of Cadets. —PHOTO COURTESY OF PMA

BAGUIO CITY, Benguet, Philippines — After a two-week delay due to quarantine requirements, 350 new cadets of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) took their oaths as members of Class 2025 in the Corps of Cadets on Monday.

All freshmen cadets, also called plebes, stepped into Fort Del Pilar for the first time to join their oath taking and reception rites after undergoing the mandatory reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, or RT-PCR, tests for COVID-19 and isolation at their home provinces or their closest military facility before being driven to the summer capital, said Air Force 1Lt. Christine Mae Calima, PMA spokesperson.

Seventy of the plebes are female while the biggest number of new cadets are from Metro Manila, Central Luzon and Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon).

Only six of the plebes come from families with monthly incomes of below P5,000, with 133 belonging to households with monthly salaries of P35,000 or higher, according to a PMA fact sheet.

Rite of passage

Like previous cadets, the plebes were ordered to race across Borromeo Field and perform physical exercises by senior cadets as part of a traditional rite of passage. This practice tests the physical endurance of incoming cadets, Calima said.

In his welcome speech, Air Force Maj. Gen. Ferdinand Cartujano, PMA superintendent, said the plebes would be trained to “operate in unbelievably miserable spartan conditions” and learn to make decisions in “morally ambiguous situations” by relying on confidence, character and compassion honed at the premier military school.

The plebes of PMA Class of 2025 were joined by six cadets who failed to join the PMA Classes of 2023 and 2024.

—VINCENT CABREZA