Thousands of aspiring military cadets will flock testing centers on Sunday (August 26, 2012) for this year's Philippine Military Academy (PMA) entrance exam, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said.
As of August 18, the PMA has already recorded 12,500 applicants who are expected to gather at the 37 testing centers nationwide, according to the AFP Public Affairs Office.
The PMA is also expecting 3,000 to 5,000 walk-in applicants during the examination day. Last year, a total of 15,873 aspiring soldiers took the test, wherein a total of 1,120 passed while a selected 123 rose as appointed cadets.
But the academy is also expecting the number of applicants to increase after the minimum height requirement for cadets was changed by the institution.
The minimum height requirement has been lowered to 5'0" both for male and female. Previously, aspiring male cadets should be at least 5'4" in height while female applicants should be at least 5'2."
"The widening of the pool of cadet candidates assures a deep-selection of those who possess the qualifications PMA is looking for in its cadets," PMA Superintendent Major General Nonato Peralta Jr. said.
He added that the academy's Non-Maltreatment Policy towards newly-accepted cadets would also motivate applicants to pursue their military aspirations.
"Also, with the staunch and resolute commitment of the Academy to eradicate hazing in the cadet corps, PMA is geared towards providing a more responsive and relevant training environment that is people-centered and observant of human rights," Peralta said.
Another factor that would encourage students to consider a career in the military is the AFP Modernization Program backed by the present administration, according to General Jessie Dellosa, AFP Chief of Staff.
"We hope that with the significant headways in our modernization and capability upgrade program, more youths who aspire to be in the military service particularly those who dream of becoming professional soldiers, pilots and sailors will be motivated to take the examination," Dellosa said.
In his latest State of the Nation Address, President Benigno Aquino III, who is also the AFP Commander-in-Chief, said that his two-year-old government has already poured a total of P28 billion into the AFP Modernization Program. The amount will soon match the P33 Billion set aside for the program in the past 15 years.
Aquino said that if the proposed AFP modernization bill is passed in Congress, the government will be able to allocate P75 billion for defense within the next five years.
The AFP said it is now acquiring equipment listed in its Medium Term Acquisition Plan covering the years from 2013 to 2017. The institution added that this year's successful applicants who will compose the PMA Class of 2017 would be the first beneficiaries of AFP's future defense acquisitions.
An aspiring PMA cadet must be a natural-born Filipino citizen, physically fit, single and has never been married.
The applicant should be at least a high school graduate and at least 17 years old but not a day older than 22 years on April 1, 2013. He or she should also have no administrative or criminal case.
Successful applicants will be received officially on August 1, 2013 at the PMA Campus in Fort Del Pilar, Baguio City. PMA graduates are guaranteed an officer in the Army, Air Force, or Navy.
"We hope that more Filipino youth will be motivated to face the greater responsibility of serving our country and better practice the principles of patriotism, nationalism and discipline that can be best learned from the military training," Dellosa said.
Sunstar
