The Philippine Military Academy trains graduates in modern military warfare

The Armed Forces has commissioned new junior officers, graduates from the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), the first to be trained and educated in modern warfare.

Cadet 1st Class Christine Kaye Demisana Librada delivers her valedictory speech during the graduation ceremony of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) "Talang Dangal" Class of 2026 at Fort Gregorio del Pilar, Baguio City on May 16, 2026.⁩ Photo from Philippine Army.

Manuel Mogato | May 18, 2026

BAGUIO CITIY — The Armed Forces has commissioned new junior officers, graduates from the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), the first to be trained and educated in modern warfare.

Lieutenant Commander Jess Nestor Saludo, the academy’s spokesman, said the more than 200 new lieutenants and ensigns were among the first to be oriented in fighting conventional warfare using drones, artificial intelligence, and electronic warfare. (Also read: AFP, defense experts: PH already in ‘political, informational war’ as arbitral ruling turns 10)

Saludo said the graduates learned valuable lessons from conflicts around the world, including those in Venezuela, Ukraine, and the Middle East.

The US employed electronic warfare to disable power, communications, detection, and tracking systems in Venezuela before snatching Nicolas Maduro.

In Ukraine and Iran, unmanned aerial and surface vehicles were deployed heavily as weaker states employed asymmetrical warfare against stronger states, such as Russia and the United States.

Saludo said the PMA’s 2026 graduates also learned about missile defenses as the premier military educational institution shifted from counterinsurgency operations to modern military warfighting.

This year’s graduates were among the first to visit the lonely military outposts in the South China Sea, inspecting the defenses on Pagasa Island.

A total of 142 male and 65 cadets graduated this year, with Christine Kaye D. Librada topping the field.

The PMA superintendent, Vice Admiral Caesar Bernard Valencia, said the academy had turned “lanky boys and girls into young men and women.”

“These are stronger in body, sharper in mind, deeper in character, and soldiers of our nation,” Valencia said at the graduation speech.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., and Armed Forces chief of staff General Romeo Brawner Jr. also attended the graduation ceremony, awarding sabres to the top graduates.