FORT DEL PILAR, Baguio City -- The Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Masidlak (Mandirigmang Sibol ng Dakilang Lahing Kayumanggi) Class of 2010’s top cadet is a tricycle drivers’ son from Negros Occidental.
Twenty-three-year-old Erano Belen recalls the hard life in his home province.
“There were times we eat only once a day and if we were going to be able to eat, we would only have salt as viand,” Belen recalled.
Belen leads the 222 cadets of class 2010, the last PMA class that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, as commander-in-chief, will honor on their graduation rites next week.
Jacob Kho of Baguio, meanwhile, graduated cum laude from the University of the Cordilleras with a bachelor’s degree in Biology. Kho said his dream of becoming a doctor was cut short when funds would not support his goal.
“I was taught how to save lives, now I am ready to take lives,” he said. Kho will be joining the Air Force after graduation.
Cordilleran, Froilan Pinay-an, a native of Hungduan said, “This award is for my parents.”
Pinay-an remembers an encounter with the New People’s Army when he was five years old. “At an early age, I have experienced and have seen how insurgency affects the lives of innocent civilians, that is why I wanted to become a soldier.”
Meanwhile, Nolito Ong Ebal of Misamis Oriental has long dreamed of becoming a soldier like his father who was part of the 26th Infantry Battalion of the 1970s.
Completing the top 10 of class 2010 are Jhonson Gonzales, Joel Delos Perante, Erwin Villanueva, Alfie Agarao, Ric Ivan Cordero and the lone lady, Karen Padayao.
PMA Superintendent Leonardo Calderon presented the top ten a week before their graduation rites.
There are 16 women and 106 men, 42 will render service in the Philippine Army, 52 for the Air Force and 52 in the Navy.
Arroyo will be the guest of honor of graduation on March 1. (Ma. Elena Catajan)