Entrance exams for PMA and PNPA set

SUPPLEMENTAL KNOWLEDGE
Jhunie B. Wahayna

Able bodied Filipinos who are 17 to 22 years old are invited to take the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) or the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA), cadetship admission test to be conducted nationwide.

To qualify to the stringent cadet admission requirements for PMA and PNPA Class 2015, the applicant must be a natural born Filipino citizen, good moral character (no pending case/s), physically fit, must be single, must be at least 5 ft. 4 in. tall for male and 5 ft. 2 in. for female, at least a high school graduate, and able to perform the minimum requirements for physical fitness test.

For the PMA cadet admission test, the exam will be conducted on August 29.

Application forms are free and available at the nearest Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) units around the country or accessed through the internet at http://www.pma.ph where you can apply on-line. You can also download the application form on the said website, and after accomplishing, mail it to:

The Office of Cadet Admission (OCA), Philippine Military Academy, Fort del Pilar, Baguio City 2602, not later than two weeks before the scheduled examination date, together with the following: authenticated or NSO copy of your birth certificate and certified true copy of your High School Form 137, and 2 pieces 2” x 2” ID with white background. Applicants are advised to review their algebra, geometry, grammar and composition, reading comprehension, and verbal/numerical reasoning and pattern analysis lessons.

For the PNPA cadet admission test, the exam will be conducted on Nov.7. Application forms can be accessed through the internet at http://www.pnpa.edu.ph.

You can download the application form on the said website, and after accomplishing, submit it to: The Director, (Attn: Registrar), Philippine National Police Academy, Camp General Mariano N. Castaneda, 4219 Silang, Cavite, together with a self-stamped window envelope. The deadline for submission of the application will be on September 30, 2010. The coverage of examination will be communication skills, math and science, logical and reasoning ability, general information and current events, values and aptitude for the service.

While undergoing the 4-year cadetship program, both PMA and PNPA cadets will be receiving a monthly salary to meet education and training requirements such as uniforms, subsistence, books and other necessary expenditures.

PMA and PNPA cadets are recipient of a full government scholarship. Upon admission, they are entitled to receive a training pay and allowances.

Upon graduation from the Academy, PMA cadets are commissioned Second Lieutenants to the three major services of the Armed Forces of the Philippines as an officer in the Philippine Army (PA), Philippine Navy (PN), or in the Philippine Air Force (PAF). While PNPA cadets are commissioned Inspectors (equivalent to the rank of a lieutenants in the AFP) to the Philippine National Police (PNP), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), or in the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP).

The Philippine Military Academy (PMA) began on October 25, 1898 with the establishment of the Academia Militar in Malolos, Bulacan by virtue of a decree issued by the first president of the young Philippine Republic, General Emilio Aguinaldo.

Graduates were awarded regular commission in the armed forces. Its existence was short-lived, barely four months old, up to 20 January 1899, when hostilities between the Americans and Filipinos erupted.

While the Philippines was under American colonial rule, an officers’ school of the Philippine Constabulary was established at the Walled City of Intramuros in Manila on February 17, 1905.

It relocated three years later to Baguio City, initially at Camp Henry T. Allen, and subsequently at Teacher's Camp, and then finally, due to the need of wider grounds, the academy moved to its present site at Fort Gregorio del Pilar.

The Philippine Legislature on September 8, 1926 passed Act No. 3496 renaming the school into the Philippine Constabulary Academy and lengthened its course from nine months to three years with provisions to strengthen the faculty and revise its curriculum.

On December 21, 1936, Commonwealth Act No. 1 (also known as the National Defense Act) was passed. The law formally created the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) and authorized it to confer a Bachelor of Science degree on its graduates after they successfully complete the four year course program.

The Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) was formally organized and activated on June 12, 1978 pursuant to Department of National Defense Order no. 83 issued on May 25, 1978. Fifty (50) PNPA cadets were admitted. On August 07, 1980, forty five (45) of them were conferred with Bachelor of Science in Public Safety (BSPS) degree after two years in the academy. They were the first graduates and the pioneer Maharlika Class 1980 of the PNPA.

In January 1997, the Bachelor of Science in Public Safety (BSPS) course was approved into a four year course program by the Board of Trustees of the Philippine Public Safety College (PPSC) who has the administration and supervision of the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA).

Today, the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) and the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) stands at the apex of transformation for the human development of the country’s finest military and public safety officers as it goes beyond the realm of its vision and mission. Both academies continuously take the lead in transforming the Cadet Corps towards its pledge. Good luck to all future examinees.