AFP formally closes Women's Auxiliary Corps

From the Philippine News Agency  (Jul 1): AFP formally closes Women's Auxiliary Corps

The Armed Forces Monday officially closed down the Office of the Women’s Auxiliary Corps after 50 years of existence as an administrative arm of the military.

Its office, under the General Headquarters Grandstand, in Camp Emilio Aguinaldo, is officially closed with its equipment and other facilities transferred to the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics (J-4).

Its 14 officers and 595 active enlisted personnel are to be integrated into the major or technical service of their choice.

In the unmanning ceremony at the AFP General Headquarters Building Conference Room Friday, the flag of the WAC was symbolically folded, marking its conclusion.

The Chief WAC, Col. Yolanda P. Joaquin, said “The flag of the Corps may now be folded and encased but as to whether it will be unfurled once more or consigned permanently as a relic of the rich history of the AFP, only time and subsequent developments can tell.”

Legally, the WAC could not yet be deactivated as long as Republic Act 3895 as amended remains.

Thus, the unmanning of the office and the integration of its personnel to other units or major services of the AFP.

The AFP Deputy Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Gregorio E. Macapagal, who was the presiding officer of the ceremony said “the ceremony does not symbolize the diminishing value of women in the military but has, instead, elevated their status in the armed service and are recognized as equal partners of men in national development. As such, they are no longer confined in only performing technical, administrative and non-combat roles but have extended their horizon to field duty assignments.”

The WAC was established in 1963 by virtue of Republic Act 3835 which instated the corps in the AFP to provide the procurement of its officers and enlisted personnel, and other purposes.

The first Chief WAC of the AFP was Col. Eufrecinia C. Alfonso, now retired.

It was founded by Josefa Borromeo Capistrano who first organized the Women’s Auxillary Service in Mindanao which was a group of Filipino women soldiers who nursed wounded revolutionaries and were also given tasks to lure American forces to the traps of the Filipino freedom fighters.

The Corps then went from deactivation in 1996 to a successful reactivation in March 2010.

The unmanning of WAC is pursuant to the Defense Planning Guidance 2014-2019 which deactivates AFP-Wide Service Support and Separate Units, and GHQ, AFP technical and administrative staffs duplicating roles, missions and functions of the Major Services.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=539801