Trader's son is top PMA graduate

FORT DEL PILAR, Baguio City , Philippines  – A son of a business supervisor drawn by youthful adventure to the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) was this year’s top graduate of the country’s premier military school.

Angelo Edward Parras of Apalit in Pampanga, who is turning 22 on March 13, received the Presidential Saber from President Aquino at the Borromeo Field. He bested 195 others in the Laon-Alab class of 2011.

He said he had never imagined graduating at the top of his class. He said becoming a military officer was only a “naive dream of a carefree young man seeking adventure.” In the end, he said, he found true challenge.

Angelo said his father Apolinario, a business supervisor at the Gateway Business Park in Cavite, gave him all the support when he decided to leave the University of the Philippines in Diliman where he was taking up Computer Science to become a cadet.

Angelo, who is joining the Navy, will also receive 12 other academic awards including the Jusmag Award for the Navy.

Trailing Parras is John Rigor Guiang of Zamboanga del Norte, who is the Class Baron or the brigade commander and top Army Man.

Guiang said he sought inspiration from his father who is a security guard in his hometown. He said he is “very willing to serve” in his troubled home, Mindanao.

Parras, Guiang and No. 6 Janice Matbagan will train in the US as Jusmag scholars.

Matbagan of Baguio City, the only female in the top 10, is the top Air Force cadet and also the Class Tarzan or recipient of the Athletic Saber. 

Matbagan, who traces her roots from Sagada, Mountain Province, excels in marathon, swimming and judo.

“When I was an elementary student in Camp 8 (Baguio) and I was running very early, I would see the old PMA beacon and this inspired me to join the academy,” she said. There are 22 women in her class.