philippine military academy, baguio

PMA Cadets

with our vigor regained the next morning and sufficiently fueled by a chaotic breakfast buffet, my family was all set for our official first day in baguio. i had already made a confession in this post that there was never a planned itinerary for this trip. quite a risk i must say because my parents are already of age and the last thing that i want is for them to be uncomfortable, worse be dragged into some exhausting adventure. let's leave that to the juveniles.

but to my surprise, my parents were up to the challenge! i should have given them more credit than what i had initially thought of.

since for a change, i seemed to be the one leading our pack of five, i declared that we would be going to the philippine military academy on our first day. i never heard complains and they all willingly strutted behind me, while i figured out on how exactly we would go to the academy in the first place!

PMA Gate

the shining sun promised us a favorable morning, giving us another reason to be beaming with excitement for the day ahead. we made a semi-roundabout course from hotel veniz to burnham park through an overhead bridge for pedestrians. as we were walking, i still had no idea where we could catch our jeepney ride to PMA. i just remembered from my random internet scouring that the jeepney terminal bound for PMA is somewhere near burnham park.

my brother, armed with his phone, went ahead on the look out for the jeepney stop where we could catch our ride. just then, i saw a congregation of jeepneys alongside burnham park's gate, the side facing hotel veniz. i hollered my brother to return to our pack, almost certain that i was right. confirming from a jeepney driver, he told us that the jeepney for PMA was at the end of the jeepney queue.

we arrived timely and caught a jeepney that just had its turn so, the five of us were seated comfortably. at first, i handed to the fare collector a Php50 bill and the man retorted that it wasn't enough. lol PMA is actually quite distant from the city center and a Php18 fare per person is fairly reasonable. i am just too stingy in giving the small bill first. haha

PMA Jeepney Stop

the jeepney that has the PMA route is allowed to go right inside the PMA, with designated drop off point and this is also where you can catch your return ride to the city.

at the PMA main gate, our first security check was carried out by a dazed-looking security guard who kept on repeating that sleeveless shirts and slippers are not allowed. there were only a few of us that were left in the jeepney that at one glance, he should have recognized that we were all good to go. he must still have come from a graveyard shift. poor man. we left one ID to him and he handed us a visitor tag that must be worn the entire time.

another security check was done midway to the drop off but it was only a breeze. the final security check was at the point where we were about to go inside the actual academy grounds.

all of that took around 10 minutes.

our timing was perfect that we were able to catch this ceremony with the PMA cadets all looking impressive and snappy. the female guests looked pretty amid the men in uniforms and i quipped to my sister that we were not informed to dress up. if only we had known. lol

my sister and i in our very casual attire (yes, shorts are allowed!). if we had come in dresses, we wouldn't have drawn out such disapproving countenance by this officer. of course, i am only making this up. this photo just looks like my sister and i were the odd ones out.

my sister wanted to have a picture taken with a cadet but this is the only closest thing we had, while my mother looked like she was not happy with the idea. haha

PMA is nice for a leisure walk as there are a number of interesting sights around. after going through the sea of cadets, we found this display of two old fighter planes that had already long retired.

we also went inside the PMA museum where we knew the history of PMA and its timelines that came in photos. the academy dated back as early as when philippines gained its independence from spain in 1898. however, PMA in its current location in baguio was only after the world war II.

the above photo is said to depict the daily life of a PMA cadet inside the academy. well, they also go through the same agony as regular students do and they turn into night owls that burn the midnight oil!

we briefly listened to a speech by an officer during the morning's program and one thing that i remember from his speech was when he was telling the cadets to do well in their studies for the sake of the people who are paying taxes -- the taxes that make their tuition for free.

hearing about baguio is often synonymous to pine trees. the tall coniferous trees that make such a pretty and refreshing sight, and PMA has these mighty trees aplenty. the academy grounds is very well tended, grasses are cut and flowers abloom. it's another picture perfect institution of learning for my books, aside from the ewha womans university in seoul that i visited early this year.

my parents are into gardening that they are likewise amazed with the greenery and the flowers. what my father got really curious though were the landslide remnants on a few mountains across PMA. with his eccentricities, he wanted to climb these mountains and we're still in the works of figuring out why. haha

and that time, PMA had a booth for those interested to enroll and the people in charge were urging visitors to sign up. my father with his usual antics, told us in a jest that he wanted to sign up. we were joking him that he won't make it through his first day. does this make us not supportive?

when i looked up the qualifications, sad to say, my father can't even satisfy. one must be single and has never been married. i should tell him about this lest he's still considering the idea. haha

to lift up his spirits, we eventually gave in to his idea of us walking back to the main gate even if it's a considerably long walk! the walk was not really in question for us except for my mother but for her dearest, we all agreed. my father wanted to see the tanks on display that we passed by earlier and walking seemed to be a good way because we didn't know where it was. the pine trees made the ordeal bearable, shielding us from the sun and cooling us off from the humidity.

pardon my flippant pose with the tank. this is sort of inappropriate on how you deal with tanks but anyway, i hope there will never be a time anymore to use tanks in the philippines and in the rest of the world for that matter. war is nothing but a miserable concept for a solution. sadly, it still applies in the 21st century, just like how they resolved issues centuries ago.

yes. be a PMA cadet. be a leader. :)

"I am surrounded by fearful odds that will

overcome me and my gallant men,

but I am pleased to die fighting for my beloved country."

- Gregorio H. Del Pilar

--

i have been to PMA during the study tour i had in college and baguio was the leisure leg of the tour, which seemed to be the most important. haha! everything that day was now a blur, saved by a few low-resolution photos i have.

this time around, at least i have this post to remind me of this second experience and i know this would resonate more because we did it ourselves, without a tour bus or a van ferrying us comfortably. of course, i was with my family which is composed of all our individual peculiarities perfectly rolled into one.

Entrance is for free.
PMA Museum at Php10/person
We were there at 9AM till 12:30PM.

o-O