Marcos orders review of PMA curriculum as PH faces security threats

FILE PHOTO: This photo shows the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio City. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered a review of the PMA’s curriculum as the country confronts “emerging and future challenges.” Philippine Daily Inquirer/EV Espiritu

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered a review of the Philippine Military Academy’s (PMA) curriculum as the country confronts “emerging and future challenges.”

Marcos gave the directive to the Department of National Defense (DND) and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) during Saturday’s graduation of the PMA Bagong Sinag Class of 2024 here in the summer capital of the Philippines.

“The PMA has long been a reliable institution in nation-building. However, in this time of great complexity, the PMA needs to step up and take on the task of ensuring that the next generation of leaders in the country are ready for the emerging and future challenges,” Marcos said in his speech.

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“So, I direct the DND and AFP leadership to review the PMA curriculum to ensure that our cadets will be equipped with the 21st-century skills necessary to counter conventional and asymmetric threats,” he added.

Marcos also underscored a “digital battlefield” amid the changing security front line.

“In the digital battlefield, a clear vision for truth, integrity, and patriotism, are necessary tools to combat attempts at disinformation and infiltration,” he said during ceremonies at the country’s prime military school.

READ: Army urged to upgrade skills to ‘changing’ battlefield

Previously, Marcos urged the Philippine Army to further hone their skills as “[t]imes are changing, and we are facing new threats now to our nation’s security.

“The battlefield is changing; it will go beyond traditional warfighting as we have known it,” he told troops in Cagayan de Oro.