Army names 1st woman battalion commander

Because even the Army needs a woman’s touch, Lt. Col. Ramona Palabrica-Go has forsaken home and hearth to become the first woman battalion commander in the history of the male-dominated Philippine Army.

Army chief Lt. Gen. Gregorio Camiling has approved Go’s appointment as commander of the elite Aviation Battalion under the Light Armor Brigade based at Fort Magsaysay in Laur, Nueva Ecija, following a tedious selection process this month.

Go, a Chinese-looking lass from San Enrique and San Dionisio towns in Iloilo, is a mother of three and wife to Chinese businessman David Go. She also happens to be a chemistry graduate with master’s degrees from different schools.

"The appointment of Lieutenant Colonel Go was in consonance with the vision of the Army chief of having a female battalion commander in order to give women officers an equal chance to compete with their male counterparts in the Philippine Army," said Army spokesman Lt. Col. Mayoralgo de la Cruz.

Go, 45, now has at her disposal more than 100 fighters and the Army’s air assets — mostly fixed wing aircraft — which are being used by the Armed Forces in surveillance and reconnaissance operations against enemies of the state, including the New People’s Army and the Muslim separatists in Mindanao.

"I am very happy with my appointment and ever thankful to my superior officers, for giving me this opportunity to have my own command," Go, a fixed-wing pilot, said. "My main concern now is the welfare of the men and women under me. At present we have six flying aircraft which I should attend to daily. One right now is in Cotabato conducting surveillance and reconnaissance mission."

The Aviation Battalion is at the heart of every heavy fighting, called to survey the terrain and locate enemy positions for artillery fire and infantry operations.

Go’s appointment was endorsed by no less than her immediate superior, Light Armor Brigade commander, Col. Rodrigo Maclang, based at Camp O’Donnell in Capas, Tarlac.

She is backed by sterling military and scholastic records, including her being among the top female spies of the military’s intelligence group, and masters degrees from the University of Santo Tomas, Greenville College and the Asian Institute of Management.

After graduating from the Central University of the Philippines with a bachelors degree in chemistry, she decided to enlist in the Army’s Women’s Auxiliary Corps in 1977 mainly out of curiosity in her father’s military career in the Philippine Constabulary.

"Out of curiosity I entered the Army but soon after I learned to love the service so much," Go, the youngest of five Palabrica siblings, told The STAR.

She was later commissioned as a second lieutenant after graduating from an officers’ candidate school in Australia in 1981, and served as a secretary of the military’s joint staff at Camp Aguinaldo.

From Camp Aguinaldo, she moved to become the first Army woman aide-de-camp of then Army chief Gen. Rodolfo Canieso.

Go’s military career became even more colorful when she took a series of flying lessons in her first assignment in the Army’s Aero Scout Company and later became the first female aviator of the entire Armed Forces.

While serving as Canieso’s aide, Go stumbled on yet another challenge when she found herself being actively pursued by a lovestruck Chinese visitor of Canieso.

"At first I was so hesitant. There was this feeling in me that I am not so sure whether to listen to the problems of the heart or simply just ignore it out of fear that I will be rejected by my husband’s family being pure Chinese," Go said.

But love prevailed. After several months of courtship and a three-year engagement, Ramona Palabrica and David Go were married. Their union has been blessed with three children –Constantine James, 11; Margaret Jane, 8, and Jennifer Jade, 5.

Her family resides in Makati City, so Go manages household affairs via cellphone from her base at Fort Magsaysay.

"I always make it a point to talk with my children and to my loving and ever supportive husband. Indeed it is a very interesting life not only for me but also for my family," she said.

On weekends, Mr. Go, who is a car salesman, drives the children to Nueva Ecija for a visit with commander.

During Camiling’s term as commander of the Light Armor Brigade, he deployed female officers to combat units in order to show that women have the capability to handle delicate assignments.

"As such, the Army has realized that female officers can distinguish themselves and excel in riskier challenges that their male counterparts are usually doing," Camiling said in a press statement.

There are at present several female officers who occupy various critical positions in Army field units, Camiling said.