Leah Santiago becomes first female PMA graduate to earn general’s star
BAGUIO CITY, Philippines – Thirty-three years after entering the Philippine Military Academy with its first batch of female cadets, Leah Lorenzo Santiago has become the first woman PMA graduate to reach the rank of brigadier general.
Santiago formally donned her one-star rank on November 9 at Camp Aguinaldo, less than a month after becoming the PMA’s first female Commandant of Cadets and head of the Tactics Group on October 17.
The Academy rendered arrival honors for her at Fort Del Pilar the following day.
Her promotion puts another first beside a name already written several times into PMA history.
Santiago entered the Academy in 1993, the year PMA began admitting women under Republic Act 7192, or the Women in Development and Nation Building Act.
She graduated with the KalasagLahi Class of 1997, the first PMA class to include women. Santiago finished third overall and first academically, becoming the Academy’s first female summa cum laude graduate.
Commissioned into the Philippine Army, she went on to serve in infantry, field artillery, personnel management, and military education assignments.
Among her earlier posts were platoon leader, executive officer, and company commander of the 30th Infantry Battalion. She later returned to the PMA as a senior tactical officer, commanded the 9th Field Artillery Battery in Sulu, and held senior personnel positions in the Army.
Santiago’s return to Fort Del Pilar this year brought another first.
As Commandant of Cadets, Santiago now oversees the military training, discipline, leadership development, and physical training of the Cadet Corps, the same institution she entered when women were only beginning to find a place in its ranks.
Santiago is not the first woman to become a general in the Philippine Army. Brigadier General Ramona Go achieved that milestone in 2011.
Rather, Santiago’s distinction is specific to the PMA — she is the first female graduate of the Academy’s four-year cadet program to reach general officer rank.
The achievement also carries particular weight for the women who followed the first female cadets through Fort Del Pilar.
What Santiago entered in 1993 as part of an experiment in opening a traditionally male institution to women is now part of PMA life. Women train alongside men, command cadet units, earn academic honors, and graduate into the different services of the Armed Forces.
Santiago now stands on the other side of that history.
She arrived at Fort Del Pilar as one of the first women allowed to become a PMA cadet. More than three decades later, she is back with a star on her shoulder, helping train those who will come after her. – Rappler.com
