Wowowee (March 25 2010)

Poor boy from Dumaguete tops PMA 'Masidlak' class

Source: ABS CBN
FORT DEL PILAR, Baguio City, Philippines – A son of a tricycle driver from Dumaguete City topped this year’s graduating class of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) here.

Eraño Belen, 23, of Calindagan, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, will lead the 226-strong”Masidlak” (Mandirigmang Sibol ng Dakilang Lahing Kayumanggi) class of 2010 during the commencement exercises on March 1.

Belen recalled the hard life he and his family have endured, including sharing a single meal a day several times, but these difficulties did not stop him from dreaming big.

“When we were able to eat, we only had salt to go with rice,” he said.

Belen, a member of the Iglesia ni Cristo, was named after the late head of the INC.

He encouraged everyone to always put God first in whatever endeavor and nothing will fail.

“Every Visayan must dream big and do everything to succeed,” he said.

Belen, who will be commissioned as second lieutenant, said he once dreamed of having an education at the PMA.

“We were brought up to dream to have a good education,” he said.

Belen’s younger sibling will also graduate in October from the Negros Oriental State University, where the PMA topnotcher previously enrolled as a BS Electronics and Communications Engineering student before entering the PMA.

Aside from receiving the Presidential Saber from President Arroyo, Belen will also receive the Achievement Award for Academic Excellence, Philippine Air Force Saber, Academic Group Award, Natural Sciences Award, Air Force Professional Courses Plaque, JUSMAG Award, AGFO and Australian Defense Best Overall Performance Awards.

The other graduates in the top 10 include Froilan Binlingan Pinay-an of Hungduan, Ifugao; Nolito Ebal of Opol, Misamis Oriental; Jhonson Gonzales of Pamplona, Camarines Sur; Jacob Kho of Baguio; Joel Perante of Tacloban City; Erwin Villanueva of Dasmariñas, Cavite; Alfie Agarao of Carles, Iloilo; Karen Padayao of Ormoc City; and Ric Joven of Surallah, South Cotabato.

Two cadets from the Cordilleras also landed in the top ten of the graduating class of 2010.

Second placer Pinay-an flunked the PMA entrance examination thrice before he was finally admitted to the premier military school in the country.

Pinay-an studied hard and by his second year, he was in his class honor roll on his way to becoming 2010’s salutatorian.

Kho, a BS Biology cum laude graduate from the University of the Cordilleras and a resident of Baguio City, placed 5th.

“I was dreaming of becoming someone to save lives (as a doctor) now I am ready to take lives,” he said.

Kho did not pursue medical studies due to lack of funds.

“Then the opportunity to apply at the PMA came, I took it,” he said.

Kho, who like Belen is going to the Air Force, said he is prepared to die, and if the time comes he wants to die in the line of duty.

“Handa na ang loob ko diyan (I’m ready for that), physically, mentally and emotionally,” said Kho.

PMA’s brightest

PMA superintendent Vice Admiral Leonardo Calderon described the Masidlak Class of 2010 as “the brightest class” he has known since the 1990s.

He said this class has three “Starmen,” which is equivalent to cum laude, namely: Pinay-an, Gonzales, and Ramon Mallare. There was no Starman last year.

Calderon said that the graduating class includes 31 female cadets, one of the biggest batches of female graduates since women were accepted at the PMA in 1997.

“They are also the most cooperative class I’ve seen” in terms of providing discipline to the cadet corps, Calderon mused.

The Masidlak class is a living example of humility, excellence, respect, honor, duty and love of God and country, Calderon said.

INC member tops PMA Class 2010

Source: mb.com.ph
By DEXTER A. SEE

February 22, 2010, 9:15pm

FORT DEL PILAR, Baguio City – A 23-year-old lad from Dumaguete City, who is a member of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), will lead the 226-member Mandirigmang Sibol ng Deskilling Lahing Kayumangi (Masidlak) Class 2010 of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) during their graduation rites at the Borromeo grounds here on March 1, 2010.

This year’s batch of young military officers is composed of 195 male and 31 female cadets, one of them landing in the top 10 honor list.

Among the graduating cadets, 122 will be joining the Philippine Army, 59 will enlist with the Philippine Navy, while 45 will be commissioned by the Philippine Air Force. Cadet First Class Ireneo Bontilao Belen, 23, of Calindagan, Dumaguete City, is this year’s class valedictorian and will receive the Presidential Saber, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (PGMA) Achievement Award for Academic Excellence, Philippine Air Force Saber, Academic Group Award, Natural Sciences Plaque, Air Force Professional Courses Plaque, and JUSMAG Award for being the top graduate of the Air Force, Association of Generals and Flag Officers (AGFO) Award, and Australian Defense Best Overall Performance Award for being the number one in Air Force Service Core Courses.

Class salutatorian is Cadet First Class Froilan Jick Binlingan Pinay-an, 24, of Poblacion Hungduan, Ifugao, who will receive the Vice Presidential Saber, Philippine Army Saber, Tactics Group Award, Aguinaldo Plaque, Sports and Physical Development Plaque, JUSMAG Award for being the top graduate of the Philippine Army, Army Professional Courses Plaque, Australian Defense Best Overall Performance Award for Army Service Core Courses, and Distinguished Cadet Award for being one of the class starmen.

Placing third overall in the honor list is Cadet First Class Nonito Ong Ebal Jr., 25, of Zone II, Igpit, Opol, Misamis Oriental, who will be given the Secretary of National Defense Saber; while Cadet First Class Jhonson Riveza Gonzales, 22, of Zone I Del Rosario, Pamplona Camarines Sur, placed fourth and will receive the Philippine Navy Saber, Navy Professional Courses Plaque, Australian Defense Best Overall Performance Award for being number one in Navy Service Core Courses, JUSMAG Award for being the top graduate of the Philippine Navy, and Distinguished Cadet Award for being one of the class starmen.

Cadet First Class Jacob George Avila Kho, 25, of San Vicente, Baguio City, landed in fifth spot and will receive the Management Plaque and Social Sciences Plaque from the Academy officials.

Rounding the top 10 are Cadets First Class Joel Delos Santos Perante, 22, of Nula-Tula, Tacloban City, Leyte, sixth; Erwin Ramos Villanueva, 25, of Dasmariñas, Cavite, seventh; Alfie Pancho Agarao, 23, of Cabbalas, Pequeno, Carles, Iloilo, eighth; Karen Nuevas Padayao, 21, of Ormoc City, Leyte, the only female cadet who landed in the top 10, ninth; and Ric Ivan Cordero Joven, 22, of Suralla, South Cotabato, 10th.

Belen, who is the son of a tricycle driver and a housewife, said the struggles which he had experienced in life were his challenges to strive hard to study and finish in the Academy in order to alleviate their poor living condition in Negros Oriental.

Belen said the four major things that guided him to be successful were “placing God in the center of all the things that we do since it is in Him that we seek strength and guidance and it is in Him where we offer our achievements; getting along with others; be humble; and have the will to do things.”

'Wrong choice of leader to make country worse'

Source : philstar.com
By Aurea Calica (The Philippine Star) Updated February 22, 2010 12:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines - The son of two democracy icons yesterday called on Filipinos to make the forthcoming presidential elections "people power" day, pointing out that the wrong choice of leader could make the situation of the country worse.

Liberal Party standard-bearer Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III told lawyers supporting his political party that the first EDSA people power revolt – whose 24th anniversary would be marked tomorrow until Friday – should have ended the "one-person, one clique" regime.

"I thought Martial Law was really bad. The situation today is also as bad. The situation – if we are not able to repair the changes come May 10 – will be infinitely worse," Aquino warned.

Aquino's parents, former senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. and former President Corazon "Cory" Aquino, fought for the restoration of freedom in the country.

The first bloodless revolution in 1986 installed Cory, being the widow of slain senator Ninoy, also a national hero, who fought the Marcos dictatorship. He was assassinated upon his return from exile in the United States in 1983.

The peaceful uprising inspired other revolutions in the world where people felt oppressed by their governments.

"What is our obligation at this time? I was 12 years old when Martial Law was proclaimed in the middle of the night. We were awakened, father was taken from us, he was incarcerated. That began the journey into the darkness, the journey into the unknown, a journey where the future was topsy-turvy," Aquino said.

"What was right became uncertain whether it was right, where wrong together with might was the prevailing atmosphere, mood and practice of the land. It is sad. The first EDSA should have taken us out from that quagmire of one person, one clique, their interests alone are important to the detriment of everyone else," he said.

Aquino stressed this was the reason why the people must rise up again not by going to the streets but by using their power through the elections.

"Think about it. (President Arroyo's) depredations had a certain amount of resources. The basket had really been ravaged... suppose 10 years of her administration and the next person who follows her continues the methodology of the interest of one person and one group, you have then an even worse situation to those who are not parties or members," Aquino added.

"We have to make them feel that one true master in a democracy are the people themselves. They are the one and only master, to those who forget," Aquino said, stressing that only vigilant citizens could enjoy true democracy.

Aquino expressed gratefulness that he was running now through a "people's campaign" to continue what his parents started.

He said if his father felt alone in his fight before, it was a different thing for him now.

"Since we began, I never felt alone because of all of you. Here we can see (that the people) no longer want one interest, one group (to perpetuate the system)," Aquino told the lawyers who volunteered to help guard his votes and that of his running mate, Sen. Manuel Roxas II, along with the other LP candidates.

Aquino said studying the country's problems would make one realize that solutions "would not be magic."

"But we do not have to find them, they are here we just have to (implement) them," Aquino said.

He said the people must not be swayed by "packaging" or "imaging" or the black propaganda against candidates who were advocating for change.

Aquino said the country's problems remained the same, particularly in the administration of justice.

He said it would take six years to adjudicate a case in a lower court, another six years in the appellate court and then another six years in the Supreme Court.

"If you are lucky, you will have a decision after 20 years. Through the years we had so much frustrations," Aquino said.

He also cited the plan of Mrs. Arroyo to appoint the next chief justice of the Supreme Court when the Constitution is clear that she is banned from making appointments two months before the end of her term.

People's campaign

Aquino said the changes that the country needs must start with credible elections.

He said he is happy that lawyers are with him to fight against the likes of former election officials Virgilio Garcillano and Lintang Bedol, who both got involved in poll fraud.

Aquino thanked the lawyers for their initiative, saying their move was another sign that his was a people's campaign.

Some 120 volunteer lawyers gathered in Pasig City Saturday night to tackle ways to protect the votes of Aquino and Roxas on May 10.

The PiNoY Lawyers group is the legal arm of Team Aquino-Roxas.

"I am honored to present to you the PiNoY Lawyers at your service... In the best legal way we will protect your votes and the causes you are fighting for," PiNoY Lawyers spokesman Jose Amor Amorado told Aquino and Roxas at the gathering, adding that many of the lawyers are from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Amorado told reporters that so far, the group has 118 volunteer lawyers nationwide who are acting as coordinators in highly urbanized areas.

"We are not alarmed but knowing things might happen, we are focusing on our contingency plans," he said.

He said they are now looking for municipal coordinators in 1,634 areas, so the group would have at least one lawyer for each canvassing area.

On the other hand, at least 50 more lawyers will be stationed at their headquarters for ready deployment anywhere in the country.

During the Saturday night meeting, Commission on Elections spokesman James Arthur Jimenez answered questions from the lawyers on the automated poll system.