The Philippine Military Academy, the only military school in the country is proposed to be abolished in order to bring rise to many military schools in the nation.

The proposal was given birth because of the flaws and anomalies inside the Philippine army. The revelation regarding the million dollar budget which was pocketed by many military officials instead of giving due to many Filipino soldiers questioned the credibility of many army officials as well as the Philippine Military Academy where most of the graduated from.

Traditionally, graduates of the army school are noted to be elite of the Armed forces of the Philippines’ crops officers, having the inside track privilege to several promotions not purely dependent on merit but due to nepotism and old boy network solidarity among fellow classmates.

Recently, the retired, ex-defense secretary, General Angelo Reyes ended his life after getting torn with accusations as one of those who benefited from the revealed million dollar anomaly.

However, Senator Escudero countered the proposal saying that the wrongdoings of the army officials should not be blamed on the institution. Fixing and improving the military institution should be looked at, instead of abolishing it. “We have many schools in the nations which are producing bad graduates but no one had ever asked to abolish these schools. Perhaps the Philippine Military Academy should be given considerations as well, defended the Senator.

He also said that closing the PMA and creating several military schools in the country is definitely aping the military schools in the United States – questioning the financial ability of the government to pay for the expected expenses. “It wouldn’t be much appropriate if we copy the US military structure and implement that in our country especially we are not a rich nation, plus we are not often involve in present wars which needs a lot of military troops.”

However, isn’t it a part of the myth that military schools are only for individuals who wants to have a career in the military? Several individuals which enrolled and graduated in most military schools have chosen other career paths.

Traditionally, the Philippines have not particularized the benefit of military schools and its interdisciplinary relevance to other fields far from military science such as commerce, education, medicine, and the others. Though, civilian advance trainings are prevalent at high schools and ROTC subject is incorporated in some courses especially criminology.
On the other hand, their will be a designated technical working group to further scrutinize the feasibility of setting up several military schools in the Philippines. This committee will find out if building more military schools will be appropriate or the improvisation of the Philippine Military Academy would conclude all the on-going arguments of the country.