Getting To Know Cadet First Class Eda Glis Buansi Marapao - the top 3 in PMA Class 2017

BAGUIO CITY, Mar. 8(PIA) - - As the nation celebrates Women’s Month, a Benguet lass brings pride to the province as among the topnotchers of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class of 2017.

Cadet First Class Eda Glis Buansi Marapao who hails from Barangay Lengaoan in Buguias, Benguet is the number 3 in the merit roll of the 167-strong PMA ‘Sanggalang ay Lakas at Buhay Para sa Kalayaan Ng Inang Bayan’ (SALAKNIB) Class of 2017.

Marapao, who just turned 21 on March 5, is the youngest among their batch who will graduate on March 12 with President Rodrigo Duterte as the guest of honor and speaker.

As the top 3 graduating cadet, she will receive the Department of National Defense Saber from Secretary Delfin Lorenzana. She is also a cum laude. She will be joining the Philippine Navy.

Marapao is the eldest among three siblings. Her father is a retired enlisted member of the Philippine Army who encouraged her to enter PMA while her mother is housewife. The family is engaged in farming in their community in Buguias.

The Kankanaey lass is also a literary writer and a poet and won several awards in best literary feature and poetry in English and in Kankanaey or Ilocano.

Seven other female cadets compose the Top 10 of the graduating class. There are 63 female cadets graduating from the academy this year, the largest in the history of the Academy since it opened its doors to lady cadets back in 1993.

Marapao shared that she entered PMA with in her desire to help her family have a better life and to serve the country.

“Ang pagpasok ko po sa PMA ay hindi lang para sa pamilya pero para din sa aking mga kababayan at higit sa lahat para sa bayan,” she said.

As a young Filipino and soon to be navy officer, she is willing to be assigned in the disputed waters in the West Philippine Sea. She hopes that the Duterte Administration will continue to support the Philippine Navy and the whole Armed Forces of the Philippines

She called on the younger generation of Cordilleran youth to have a better future by studying well.

“To my fellow Cordillera youth, you should aspire to study hard, learn and be educated and not be contented with earning easy money. Education is still the key to success and to have a progressive life,” she said.

Marapao graduated at the Lengaoan Elementary School in Buguias then moved to La Trinidad where she finished her high school at the Benguet State University – Secondary Laboratory School as a salutatorian. She was also a Dean’s Lister during her one year stay at the Saint Louis University where she took up Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering before entering the premiere military institution. (JDP/RMC / C. Costes & R. Maliones- PIA-CAR /UB Interns)