Reporter and officer: Call her ‘ma’am,’ then salute

Inquirer reporter Nikko Dizon poses with guest speaker Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and her parents, Oscar and Lirio Dizon, after graduation rites of the National Defense College of the Philippines on Sept. 20, 2012, in Camp Aguinaldo. Dizon joined 23 other NDCP graduates who formally took their oath as reserve officers in the Armed Forces of the Philippines on Monday, Feb. 18, 2013. ROLLY MOLANO/CONTRIBUTOR

MANILA, Philippines—The reporter is now an officer.

Inquirer reporter Nikko Dizon on Monday joined 23 other graduates of the National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP) who formally took their oath as reserve officers in the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

In a ceremony held at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City led by AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Emmanuel Bautista, Dizon and her classmates who completed the Master’s in National Security Administration (MNSA) program of the NDCP, were officially installed as lieutenant colonels in the AFP Reserve Force.

“It’s an extraordinary feeling to be in uniform now. You feel a certain kind of responsibility that you have to do and fulfill,” said Dizon, who covers the defense beat for the Inquirer.

“As reservists who got their ranks through the MNSA, we should be able to prove to our higher officers and our troops that we can also deliver,” she said.

Dizon, who joined the Inquirer in 2005, graduated at the top of MNSA Class 47 with a grade of 1.03 and received the Academic Excellence Award from the NDCP.

Her paper, titled “Standing on a Seesaw: The Principles and Practice of Press Freedom and National Security in the Case of the 2007 Manila Peninsula Siege,” also received runner-up recognition for best thesis.

The youngest in her 39-member class, Dizon took her oath as “commander” of the Philippine Navy reserve corps.

A grueling yearlong postgraduate course, the MNSA gives a holistic view of the principles and dynamics of national security in the context of its six dimensions: political, economic, sociocultural, techno-science, environmental and military.