MANILA, 26 March 2006 — President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo yesterday told graduates of the country’s elite military school to remain true to the Philippine Constitution as she warned that any more act of disloyalty by soldiers would be dealt with severely.
“We cannot keep sweeping disloyalty under the rug,” she said in a speech during the commencement exercises of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) in Baguio City, about 200 kilometers north of Manila.
“We cannot even allow disloyalty to face the rug with a few push-ups. We must sweep disloyalty out of our house once and for all,” she said.
Participants in past coup attempts have been treated lightly, including push-ups for troops who repeatedly challenged President Corazon Aquino during her 1986-92 term.
Other governments had also granted amnesty to plotters, reinstating them to duties.
Arroyo acknowledged that the 324 graduates, including 37 women, have been targeted for recruitment by military and police officers plotting to overthrow her government.
Arroyo last month escaped an alleged conspiracy by military rebels, communist guerrillas and her political foes to launch a “people power” uprising by declaring a state of emergency and arresting many of the suspected plotters.
Some of the leaders of the alleged plot to unseat Arroyo had been implicated in coup attempts in the late 1980s, including the US-trained former commander of the elite Scout Ranger Regiment, Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim.
Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz has labeled the officers “habitual delinquents” who deserved no mercy. The army has recommended 20 soldiers face a court-martial for their roles in the alleged conspiracy.
“I expect you to be loyal to your values to your nation and to your constitution. And in return, I will remain steadfast in my loyalty to you and to the cause we all share: the fight for a just, a fair and a stable democracy,” Arroyo told the graduates, whom she commissioned as officers in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Biggest Class
This year’s class, named Mandala for Mandirigmang Dangal ng Lahi or Honorable Warrior of the Race, is not only the biggest class in the PMA’s 108-year history but also had the most number of magna cum laude (11) and cum laude (37) graduates.
The class also has the most number of women graduates since the academy started graduating female cadets in 1997.
Topping this year’s graduating class, magna cum laude, was Cadet First Class Ariel Toledo, an orphan from Santo Domingo town in Ilocos Sur province, whose education was supported by four sisters working as domestic helpers abroad.
Toledo, the 10th of 12 children of a former policeman and a homemaker, received the presidential saber and the PGMA achievement award for academic excellence and the air force saber.
Brig. Gen. Leopoldo Maligalig, PMA superintendent, noted that the Mandala class had a relatively low attrition rate despite the huge number of cadets.
Joining Toledo in the Top 10 were Francis Rosales of Baguio City, second; Romel Sotero of La Trinidad, Benguet, third; Ethelbert Aaron Kiunisala of Misamis Oriental, fourth; Michael Gotong of La Trinidad, Benguet, fifth; Amina Abdula of Concepcion, Tarlac, sixth; Noah Hernandez of Kidapawan, seventh; Ermin Soloren of South Cotabato, eighth; Joe Vergel Santos of Kidapawan, ninth; and Joy Peñaloza of South Cotabato, 10th.
Only Abdula and Peñaloza were not magna cum laudes.
Another highlight of the Mandala Class, was that it had three pairs of brothers, none of them twins: Randy and Romel Sotero of La Trinidad; Joseph Orland and Michael Gotong, also of La Trinidad; and Cesar and Jomar Canazares of Tuguegarao, Cagayan.
In the book Closer Than Brothers: Manhood at the Philippine Military Academy, Alfred W. McCoy wrote that there were only at least 26 pairs of blood brothers who ended up as classmates between 1940 to 1999. The oldest are Manuel and Melchor Acosta who both graduated in 1940. (With reports from Inquirer News Service and Agencies)
Record of Brotherhood
Among the brothers who threw their shakos (feathered cap) together at Borromeo Field at the Fort Del Pilar, home of the PMA, were: Johnny and Ruperto Andaya (1963); Eric and Raul Vinoya (1987); Josefino and Manuel Cataluna (1977); Jaime and Cesar Gopilan (1971); Ray and Ronaldo Roderos (1975); Wendell and Harry Ares (1988); Martin and Moises Boquiren (1967); Domingo and Romerico Carbonell (1980); Arnel and Arturo Carolino (1977); Clifford Richard and William George (1994).
Angelito and Nicolas Coronel (1983); Cleo and Victor Erfe (1969); Christopher and Ramon Estella (1984); Elmer and Roland Estilles (1984); Pedro and Felix Gonzales (1942); Emilio and Benjamin Hulipas (1985); Edgardo and Raul Leyritana (1972); Marvin and Maurito Licudine (1989); Renato and Zosimo Paredes (1971); Ignatius and Robert Patrimonio (1991); Oscar and Leonardo Rabena (1978); Leopoldo and Prudencio Regis (1951); Daniel and Nelito Tan (1991); Jessie and Wenceslao Tapawan (1986); and Allen and Teody Toribio (1990).
Still another highlight of the class was that seven other graduates have fathers who are PMA alumni.
Among them was Ernest Carolina, whose father, Ernesto (Class 1970), was appointed defense undersecretary after retiring from the military service with the rank of lieutenant general.
