Bangit receives outstanding alumni award from PMA

MANILA, Philippines - Outgoing Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff Gen. Delfin Bangit was presented yesterday with an outstanding alumni award by his alma mater, the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) in Baguio City.

In a related development, while Bangit was receiving the award from PMA Superintendent Rear Admiral Leonardo Calderon, truckloads of soldiers assembled at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City for a parade and review drill for the ceremonial turnover of command.

All three major services – Army, Navy and Air Force – contributed their respective troops to yesterday’s drill.

Bangit is bowing out of the military service ahead of his retirement next year.

He is scheduled to hand over the baton of the top military leadership to acting AFP deputy chief Lt. Gen. Nestor Ochoa Wednesday next week.

President Arroyo has reportedly approved Bangit’s request for optional retirement, forwarded by the Department of National Defense (DND) to Malacañang last week.

In a testimonial review and Incorporation Day Ceremony of cadets belonging to PMA class of 2014, wherein he was the guest of honor and speaker, Bangit declared that he is leaving the service with no regrets.

He also stressed that, in closing his military career, he can proudly declare “All right, sirs.”

Among PMAers, the words “all right” are considered sacred and are said when one is challenged to say if he or she is telling the truth. The principle behind this term is that cadets do not lie, steal or cheat.

He told the cadets that as AFP chief, the PMA has been his inspiration in trying his best to bring honor and dignity to the AFP “so that you would inherit (an) AFP that is professional and competent.”

He also challenged them: “When your time comes, you too will be measured by the same standard. Exceed what I have done, exceed what all of us have ever done.”

He also encouraged the cadets, who honored him with a pass and review, to be strong and take on all the challenges that come with their entry into the country’s premier military school.

The everyday sacrifices would bring the best out of every cadet and make them worthy of being incorporated into the military, Bangit said.

“We can never really tell the significance of everyday sacrifices right away. That is why it is important to endure the challenges of every moment,” he said.

Comparing himself to a plebe who goes into rigorous training to prove himself worthy to be in the military, Bangit said the Team AFP seemed like his squad, who was with him during the most trying times.

“But I would be joining a different squad and would battle a different fight outside the Armed Forces. I would have to face unfamiliar routines like an inexperienced plebe devoting the whole night preparing his uniform and performing endless compliances,” he said.

Bangit said his leaving the military will not stop him from meeting with his former squad mates, and offer them advice.

“In the face of people who do not practice the honor code, in the face of people who cannot be strong enough to stand for what is good and what is right, I have the PMA to look back to,” he said in his farewell speech to cadets.

He told them he believes that “it’s possible to do what is good and what is right; it’s possible not to cheat, not to steal and not to lie, because it was possible in the PMA.”