Col. Noel Detoyato: Once AFP’s voice, now Laang Kawal party-list proponent

Once, Col. Noel Detoyato stood as the calm, commanding voice of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, delivering updates with the weight of a seasoned soldier—until the quiet sacrifices of reservists and the unmet needs of retirees called him to a higher duty.

MANILA, Philippines — Once, Col. Noel Detoyato stood as the calm, commanding voice of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, delivering updates with the weight of a seasoned soldier—until the quiet sacrifices of reservists and the unmet needs of retirees called him to a higher duty.

Now, as a Laang Kawal Partylist second nominee, he has traded the microphone for a mission.

Col. Detoyato grew up in South Cotabato — Banga, Koronadal, and General Santos City — among people for whom resilience and loyalty were not just traits, but a way of life.

Those values shaped him long before he graduated from the Philippine Military Academy in 1990.

Commissioned that same year, he began a 35-year career in the Philippine Army, steadily rising through the ranks until he became chief of the AFP Public Affairs Office in 2015.

There, he became the voice of a formidable force — managing updates and troop movements with a calm that reflected the military’s disciplined core: 150,000 regular troops backed by 1.9 million reservists, over 1.2 million of them active and ready to defend a nation that has long leaned on them.

His respect for that reservist backbone — 89% of the AFP — did not emerge from a single moment.

It grew over years of witnessing their dedication: training, serving, and standing by, often with equipment and funding that failed to match their commitment.

The 2017 Marawi siege, a brutal five-month clash against IS-linked militants, only deepened that conviction.

With reservists stepping up — their numbers small but their spirit undeniable—he saw a chance to amplify their impact.

That experience made the numbers harder to ignore. Out of the P256.1 billion AFP budget, reservists receive less than 2% — roughly PHP 4 to 5 billion.

“They deserve more than our gratitude; they need our action,” he said, a call rooted in decades of serving with them—now urgent as he runs with Laang Kawal Partylist in the 2025 elections alongside Lt. Col. Jaime Roberto Almario and Lt. Col. Jannette Chavez-Arceo.

He is pushing to amend the Reservist Act of 1991, advocating for increased funding, modern equipment, and rigorous training — a necessary adjustment to match their grit with the resources they have earned.

Detoyato’s vision stretches beyond the uniform to the lives that support it. He is championing low-interest microfinance loans to help reservists’ families start businesses or cover essentials — a fix that hits close to home.

His wife, a nurse, has made sacrifices of her own while raising two children, and he wants them to inherit a stronger, more secure nation.

He is also eyeing better healthcare for veterans.

The Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City — currently the only dedicated facility — is stretched too thin to serve retirees in the provinces.

“A nation that forgets its defenders forgets itself,” he said.

Along with his Laang Kawal colleagues, he is advocating for services like dialysis for aging soldiers and support for the families that hold the fort — because he knows the military’s power is built on more than firepower.

It rests on the strength of its households.

Now almost 62, Detoyato remains grounded. Golf on weekends keeps him sharp; Sunday Mass with his family keeps him rooted—a rhythm tied to his faith-driven Soccsksargen upbringing.

He still remembers 1986, when, as a 21-year-old cadet, he stood at Camps Crame and Aguinaldo during the EDSA Revolution, watching Filipinos forge a future together.

That memory still fuels him, a story he shares with his children — much like his 2019 push for the ROTC program during Senate hearings on Republic Act 7077.

“It’s not about sending cadets to war,” he told reporters then, defending its revival.

“It’s about survival skills, relief work, and teaching love for country”—a way to instill a sense of national pride and purpose in the youth.

There is no chasing glory with Laang Kawal. The party list is shaping a platform grounded in service: better support for reservists, veterans, and ROTC cadets, with practical proposals like stipends and partial scholarships to prepare the next generation of defenders.

At heart, Detoyato is still the kid from South Cotabato — only now, he is lifting others with the same grit that raised him.

From his PMA days to his run for Congress, Detoyato has built a life on strengthening what’s already strong — a steady hand guided by the same resolve that has defined him from the start.