FORT Del Pilar, Baguio City -- Philippine Military Academy (PMA) is welcoming 257 members of class 2017 into the fold.
Incorporation rites are set today, Saturday May 25, for the over 200 who survived summer training and are now ready to be welcomed into the cadet corps by General Emmanuel Bautista AFP, Chief of Staff, Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Incorporation Rites signifies the formal integration of the new cadets to the Cadet Corps Armed Forces of the Philippines (CCAFP).
Prior to their incorporation, they are placed under the New Cadets Battalion (NCBN) where they are initially given the orientation on the basic things they need to know about the military profession. After 8 weeks of training, they are now ready to be incorporated to the regular corps where they are integrated with the rest of their three upperclassmen in the Academy.
PMA Class of 2017 will has chosen the name SALAKNIB, an Ilokano word which means shield.
The class envisions themselves to be the SALAKNIB of the Filipino people that will shield them from harm as the class advance toward the realization of their mandate to serve and protect the people.
On April Fool’s day, 245 new cadets reported to PMA for the oath-taking and reception rites originally the class was comprised of 163 males and 82 females.
Agnes Lynette Flores, PMA information chief said, “Two voluntarily resigned, leaving 243 cadets from the original class are ready to be incorporated to the corps. In addition, fourteen cadets from the previous class joined the PMA Class 2017, thus, making the total number of cadets to be incorporated at 257.”
The qualified cadets were chosen from 14,540 who took the nationwide examination in 2012 where only 1,096 were able to make it to the next phase.