MANILA, March 6 (Xinhua) -- A female cadet topped this year's graduating class at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), the country's premier military institution announced on Monday.
Rovi Valino Martinez of Cabanatuan City, north of Manila is the valedictorian of PMA Class of 2017. Seven other female cadets are in the top 10, school authorities said.
Of the 163 graduating on Sunday, 62 are female, the largest number since women were accepted in the military academy in Baguio City, the so-called summer capital of the Philippines because of its cool weather.
President Rodrigo Duterte is the guest speaker at the PMA graduation for the first time.
Martinez, 22, will receive the Presidential Saber from Duterte. She will also receive the Philippine Navy Saber, the Academic Group Award, and plaques for Social Sciences and Navy Professional Courses.
She will also receive the JUSMAG award from the U.S government, as well as special awards from the Spanish Armed Forces and the Australian Defense Forces. Martinez will also go to the U.S. Naval War College in Rhode Island for being the top Navy graduate, the academy said.
A law has granted women in the Philippines equal access to the service academies. The first batch of female cadets were accepted into the military school in 1993.
Since 1993, the official website of the PMA said that the number of female cadets accepted has since been limited to no more than five percent of the total number of cadets entering the academy at any one time.
Female cadets have graduated with the classes of 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000.
Martinez is the second female cadet to make it to the top of her class. In 1999, the first female cadet was made valedictorian of her class, the academy said.
