PMA No. 1 dreamed of flying high

Fort Del Pilar, Baguio City — Even as a child, he had dreamed of soaring in an airplane.

But despite nearly failing to reach his dream because of poverty, Lipa City native Brian Cera Rayton, the topnotcher of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) graduating class 2005 Sanlingan (Honor), never gave up on it.

Perhaps his old neighborhood in Lipa City, where the Philippine Air Force (PAF)’s Fernando Air Base is located, influenced his early dreams of flight.

Rayton said he has loved airplanes since he was a child.

At the age of 21, Rayton entered the PMA with the same lofty ambition of taking flight and soaring above the clouds.

"I knew then that, with our situation, entering a flying school would be difficult to shoulder," he admitted.

Brian’s father is a retired civilian employee of the PAF at Fernando Air Base and his mother is a housewife.

Poverty did not kill Brian’s desire and he fought his own battles to enter and succeed at the PMA, where he emerged at the top of his class.

During his plebe days at the PMA, the name of Lt. Rayton was among the top 30 in the merit roll of his class. He worked even harder and has since consistently been in the top 10.

On Saturday, President Arroyo will honor Rayton with the Presidential Saber for topping his class. He is also getting eight awards, including the much-coveted JUSMAG Air Force Award.

Rayton will also receive the President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Achievement Award for Academic Excellence, the PAF Sable Award, the Academic Group Award, Humanities Award, Languages Award and the Computing and Information Sciences Award.

Rayton leaves the PMA with a new challenge to face: he is training to become a fighter pilot at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

One of his "mistahs," 2nd Lt. Sherwin Castro, 25, of Tuguegarao City, Cagayan province, said Brian is a bookworm who would always burn the midnight oil.

Rayton said he altered his study habits in his yearling days — a change that has brought him to the top of this year’s crop of PMA graduates.

"My priority now is to go to the flying school," he said when asked if he had also volunteered to fight in Mindanao after graduation, as most of his classmates did.

Restoring PMA’s glory

Sixty percent of the Army group – 49 out of 81 graduates – from Sanlingan class of 2005 have volunteered to serve on battle fronts in Mindanao, Sanlingan class president 2Lt. Antonio Gubalane Bulao said.

"We want to bring back the glory of the PMA and show to the world that our class is different from the others," he said.

Bulao, a native of the town of Buhangain in Davao City, is the class salutatorian. Like most of the Army group in the Sanlingan class, he will go to the theater of battle in Mindanao.

"We will serve the country better — like no one else could," he said, adding that when they graduate on Saturday, they will make a covenant to live up to the ideals of the PMA. "We will denounce all forms of corruption and other forms of dishonorable acts."

On Friday, Philippine Star publisher/chairman Maximo V. Soliven exhorted the PMA Corps of Cadets — especially the Sanlingan class — to live up to the three pillars of the PMA: courage, integrity and loyalty.

PMA Commandant of Cadets Brig. Gen. Leopoldo Maligalig acknowledged that the PMA cadet corps had been affected by the "misdeeds" of some PMA alumni, and he invoked Soliven’s words when speaking to reporters at Longayban Hall: "What is important, (as) Mr. Max Soliven said, is when they go out of the PMA and they bring with them the training. They have to chart their own path."

Bulao and Rayton both guaranteed that the Sanlingan class will live by the motto of PMA. "Now is the time to do that," Bulao said.

Back to Borromeo Field

Rayton, Bulao, third-placer Michael Angelo Patron, 2, of Batangas; 4th-placer Geraldine Abigail Hallar of Bacarra town, in Ilocos Norte; 5th-placer Carol Ena Sabijon from Iloilo and Cebu; 6th-placer Deodelyn Aguilar from San the town of Quintin, Pangasinan; 7th-placer Ludwig Salvador from Taytay town in Rizal; 8th-placer Paul Ramos of Baguio City; 9th-placer Rimando Estrada; and 10th placer Marjorie Mukay from Tabuk town in Kalinga will lead the Sanlingan class at Saturday’s "sit-down" graduation rites at Borromeo Field.

Last year, PMA class 2004 led by then second Lt. Rolly Joaquin graduated at the CAP building at Club John Hay with a heavy heart.

Breaking tradition, it was only the second time since martial law that the graduation at the premier military training institution was held outside of PMA grounds.

PMA superintendent Lt. Gen. Cristolito Balaoing said it is still best to graduate on the same grounds you marched on as a plebe and where you spent four years as a cadet. — Artemio Dumlao