No ordinary soldier
IT WAS HER FATHER’S DREAM TO BE A SOLDIER. NOW IT IS HER REALITY.
Rovi Mairel Valino Martinez is no ordinary soldier. Last March, she graduated at the top of her class at the elite Philippine Military Academy (PMA) in Baguio City, besting 166 other cadets.
Martinez admits she wanted to quit during her first days as a cadet. She couldn’t keep up with the physical demands of cadet life – running, sit-ups, push-ups and other physical tests that she just wasn’t used to, since she wasn’t an exercise buff. But a female upper class encouraged her to go on, she recalls, almost in tears, but that upper class “went out” of the academy ahead of her. Eventually, she got used to the physical rigors.
Rovi is the younger of two daughters of a barangay kagawad (councilman) who, she shares, “is a frustrated soldier.” Her mother is an entrepreneur from Fortaleza Bangad, Cabanatuan City in Nueva Ecija.
Martinez was already a junior accountancy major at the Araullo University when the opportunity to enter the PMA came up. “I’ve always dreamt of becoming a military officer,” she says. “As a daughter, I wanted to fulfill my father’s dream.”
Acknowledging her parents’ support, she says all she hoped for was to graduate from the academy. “My being a soldier is already an accomplishment; topping the class is just a bonus,” she says.
She is the fourth female cadet to top her class in the PMA, following Arlene dela Cruz in 1999, Tara Velasco in 2003 and Andreless Mojica in 2007.
Rovi and the 62 other female cadets – eight of them were among the Top Ten – of the Salaknib (Sang- galang ay Lakas at Buhay na Alay Para sa Kalayaan ng Inang Bayan) Class of 2017 faced the rigorous training of the PMA just like their male classmates, without any special treatment.
“We should not see the military as a purely male profession,” the second lieutenant said. “Men and women are equal here.”
They were given the same oppor-
tunities – and challenges – as their male “mistahs” (classmates), says Army Lt. Col. Lea Lorenzo-Santiago (PMA class 1997), one of the first female graduates of the PMA who is now a Senior Tactical Officer at the Academy. But she notes that the females in the 2017 Salaknib class are tough and competitive. Most of them even held key positions in the corps, she adds, proving indeed that women at the PMA and in the military are keeping up with their male counterparts.
Battle-tested Santiago, who once headed the 30th Infantry Battalion in Mindanao for four years as well as an artillery company before returning back to the Academy in April, shares that her female mistahs are now holding important positions, some in combat. “We have earned our male counterparts’ respect in the field,” she believes.
A female PMA 2001 graduate received a distinguished star in combat award recently, proof that women too go out and win battles.
Aside from the eight females in the top 10, three other female cadets received special awards – Michelle Serdino Calusor from Naga City received the journalism award; Karen Joy Benitez, also from Cabanatuan City, the computing and information sciences plaque; and Ma. Isaia Pearl Paracale from Pototan, Iloilo the mathematics plaque.
Support system
Female cadets from different classes were housed in the same barracks. “So, we figured out a system where upper classwomen could push the lower years to do more, achieve more,” Martinez says.
Martinez shares she was able to strike a good balance between academics and military training. “My accountancy background helped me a lot.”
“Time management is the key,” she says, adding that she ran marathons in between academics and military training to shed off stress.
Being in the PMA “is worth it,” she says, with obvious pride. “‘Wag matakot na baka mahirap (Don’t be afraid and think that it might be difficult),” she tells aspiring would-be cadets. “You’ll know when you’re here.”
Asked about her topping the class, she humbly admits that it should inspire others to become their best. “It doesn’t mean that mas magaling na
ang mga babae kaysa sa lalake (women are better than men),” she explains. “At PMA, opportunities are equal among men and women.”
Martinez is joining the Philippine Navy and, as the top graduate, will get a scholarship to the US Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.
She said in an earlier interview that she hopes to command a navy vessel one day, and perhaps even rise to become flag-officerin-command or head of the Philippine Navy. Or perhaps even as chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
With determination and hard work, courage and an unwavering loyalty to country and flag, the stars are surely shining bright for Rovi Martinez.