736 pass PMA exams

BAGUIO CITY — More than 700 hopeful entrants to the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), the premier military training institution in the country and in Asia, passed the entrance examinations conducted last Aug. 27.

All 736 successful examinees will undergo a series of tests, after which 300 of them will be selected to comprise PMA Class 2011, said Air Force Capt. Dennis Solomon, PMA spokesman.

Maj. Gen. Leopoldo Maligalig, PMA superintendent, said the successful examinees represented about 15 percent of the 5,004 young men and women who had qualified to take the exams.

Maligalig said the 736 hopefuls will undergo a complete medical and physical examination and neuro-psychiatric and rigid physical fitness tests at the AFP Medical Center starting October, and later an interview with a panel of PMA officers.

Since 2005, the PMA has required examinees to have at least an average of 85 percent in high school.

The cadet hopefuls are aspiring for four-year, full government scholarships that would enable them to earn a Bachelor of Science degree and commission as second lieutenants in the Armed Forces after graduation.

"That is why we want to attract and select only the best," Maligalig said.

He said 112 or 15.2 percent of the successful examinees were honor students, including 37 high school valedictorians and 20 salutatorians.

Nearly a quarter — 23.3 percent or 172 — of the exam passers are females, who are vying for 30 slots in PMA Class 2011.

Commander Valentin Abellera, chief of the PMA’s Office for Cadet Admissions, said the academy is sending the 736 successful examinees an official notification by mail or telegram, advising them on the dates for their physical and medical tests.

Those in the Visayas and Mindanao will undergo their medical exams in selected cities in the South.