PMA lowers height requirement for incoming cadets

By Rutchie C. Aguhob

Sunday 15th of July 2012

OROQUIETA CITY, Misamis Occidental, July 9 (PIA) -- Here’s good news to those who would like to join the cadetship program of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) in Fort Del Pilar, Baguio City, but fall short of the required height.

“Male and female students who are at least five feet or 1.52 meters tall will now be accepted to compose the members of PMA Class of 2017, who will start the training in school year 2013-2014,” Maj. Gen. Nonato Alfredo Tadeo Peralta Jr., PMA Superintendent, in a phone interview, said.

In the past, the height requirement used to be 5’4” for men and 5’2” for women, but this has now been changed, said Peralta who served as commanding officer of the 402nd Brigade, Philippine Army, in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon, Northern Mindanao before assuming his post at PMA.

Himself a member of PMA “Matapat” Class of 1979, Peralta said a lot of the youth had been disenfranchised to join the institution in the past, for failure of meeting the height requirement.

"We want to invite the cream of the crop to join us in professionalizing and modernizing the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) which is now focused on internal peace and security operations (IPSO),” Peralta said.

With this new development, we will now be able to give the opportunity to those who only stand 5 ft. tall but has the potentials and meet the requirements to become a cadet,” Peralta said.

To qualify, one must be a natural born Filipino citizen, physically fit and of good moral character, single and never been married and must have no record of administrative and criminal cases.

Applicants must at least be high school graduates and at least 17 yrs. old and not a day older than 22 yrs. old on April 1, 2013, the start of the training, and must pass the PMA entrance examination given on August 26, Sunday, this year.

Peralta said PMA qualifiers will receive pay and allowances while taking up a four-year college education for free, which gives them the privilege to become officers in any of the three major services AFP.

The tri-service curriculum prepares the graduates to be squadron-ready, field-ready, and fleet-ready officers upon graduation, the PMA Superintendent said.

Graduates of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) curriculum are provided the academic “ground school” portion before taking up the Military Pilot Training (MPT), while graduates of the Philippine Army (PA) curriculum are equipped with knowledge and skills in management of equipment and leadership of their men, Peralta said.

Graduates of the Philippine Navy curriculum are assigned aboard ships and assume initial billet post without the need of taking up the Naval Officers Qualification Course.

Peralta said cadets who excel both in academic and physical training are also given the opportunity to enter the following institutions in the United States of America (USA):

US Military Academy in West Point, US Naval Academy in Annapolis, US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, and US Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. (PIA 10, Mis. Occ.)
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