Top 2022 PMA graduate and her caring, protective soldier-dad, family

PMA Valedictorian Krystlenn Ivany Quemado. (EV ESPIRITU / INQUIRER)

BAGUIO CITY – In order to date this year’s top graduating cadet of the Philippine Military Academy, the father of Cadet First Class Krystlenn Ivany Quemado said prospective suitors would need to fill out a 50-100 page permission form.

It was introduced partly as a joke by Army Col. Nicolas Quemado Jr. when Cadet Quemado and her older sister were in their teens, recalled their mother Loveleih Quemado, who attended PMA’s first in-person commencement exercises today, Sunday (May 15), since the coronavirus pandemic broke out in 2020.

She and Col. Quemado brought along son Kylie, 17, all the way from Koronadal City.

Col. Nicolas Quemado Jr. and Notre Dame of Marbel University Dean Loveleih Quemado PHOTO BY EV ESPIRITU

“The form says permission to date my daughter. Do you have a car? What’s your salary?… No one returned the forms,” she said laughing.

Mrs Quemado is the Dean of Arts and Sciences of Notre Dame of Marbel University, where Cadet Quemado studied.

“But I am not worried,” she said. Mrs. Quemado said she and Col. Quemado taught their four children “to act responsibly.”

Cadets First Class Crissele Jane Rico (left) and Nerfa Minong (right) were high school friends when they joined the Philippine Military Academy. Rico ranked 10th in the the 214-strong graduating Bagsik Diwa Class of 2022 while Minong ranked 9th. They will  joint he Philippime Air Force as second lieutenants  (EV ESPIRITU / INQUIRER)

Cadet Quemado is an “empowered” woman, she emphasized.

Cadet Quemado will receive her commission as a junior officer of the Philippine Navy from President Duterte.

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