2 female PMA graduates assigned to Marine Corps

With less than 10 female officers, the elite Marine Corps welcomed two of the graduating women cadets of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) who were set to join "the few and the proud" in the military service.

Marine spokesman Lt. Col. Ariel Caculitan said that cadets April Pernito and Beryl Charity Bacolcol have expressed their intention to join the Marines after graduation.

Both Pernito and Bacolcol belong to the PMA Maragtas (Marangal na Tagapagligtas) Class 2007.

"We don’t have much female officers in the Marines, so this is a welcome development for us. We are happy that they are now starting to enter the Marine Corps," Caculitan said.

He said the two new officers will still undergo the Basic Marine Officers Training Course a month after their graduation at the PMA today.

Caculitan said the Marines Corps always welcome the entry of women in their ranks because of their important contribution to the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Navy spokesman Commander Giovanni Carlo Bacordo said the two are among the six graduating female cadets in Class Maragtas.

Bacordo said both Pernito and Bacolcol said they are "challenged" to join the male-dominated Marine Corps, rather than the other services of the Armed Forces.

"They wanted to prove that women can do what men are capable of doing," he said.

Pernito and Bacolcol are among the 30 graduating cadets that volunteered to join the Marines. Out of the 282 cadets who will graduate in traditional ceremonies at Fort del Pilar in Baguio City today, 73 of them would join the Navy.

"We are happy because (we) would be joined by the top cadet of this year’s graduating class," he said.

There are 23 female cadets, or 10 percent of the class, who will graduate on Monday before President Arroyo. The class valedictorian is Andrelee Samson Mojica, of Indang, Cavite.

Mojica is the third female cadet to graduate at the top of a PMA class since female cadets broke tradition by joining the male-dominated Cadet Corps in 1994 by virtue of Republic Act 7192 or the Equal Opportunity Act.

The first female PMA cadet to graduate valedictorian was Navy Ens. Arlene de la Cruz of Class 1999.

De la Cruz was followed by Army 2Lt. Tara Velasco of Class 2003.