Biggest batch of women cadets to greet Duterte

FORT DEL PILAR, Baguio City — When President Rodrigo Duterte welcomes graduates of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) into the armed services on Sunday, he will commission the highest number of female cadets since the premier military school opened its doors to women in 1993.

Of the 282 cadets of PMA Class 2018 who will graduate on Sunday, 75 are women, majority of whom will join the Army, the largest branch of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Three of them are in the Top 10: Fourth placer Andrea Japitan of Butuan City, sixth placer Jezaira Buenaventura of Bais City, and 10th placer Micah Reynaldo of Bamban town, Tarlac province.

Mindanao duty

Thirty-eight of the female cadets will join the Army, 19 the Air Force, and 18 the Navy.

The graduates will receive their military commissions from the President, the guest of honor and speaker in ceremonies at Fort Del Pilar.

Japitan, 21, said she would like to be deployed to conflict-wracked communities in Mindanao and serve in the ongoing rehabilitation of Marawi City. —KARLSTON LAPNITEN