A former cadet of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA)
whose dream was to write the first Academy Register Book that chronicles the
more than 17,000 cadets who studied at the country’s premier military school in
Baguio City since 1898, was finally fulfilled last Thursday when he launched
the historic book he painstakingly wrote for 17 years.
Army Brig. Gen. Restituto L. Aguilar (Ret.), chief Veterans,
Memorial and Historical Division of the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office
(PVAO), was highly emotional as he recalled the many instances that he almost
called it quits during the gathering and writing of the book because of many
obstacles, particularly the cost of printing.
Aguilar, a PMA graduate of Class 1978, said he pursued his
dream because he felt it was his patriotic duty to come up with the first ever
Academy Register Book no other graduate had thought of to record the data of
each Academy graduate for posterity.
He made the disclosure during the book launch with Defense
Secretary Delfin Lorenzana as the guest of honor and speaker at the AFP Theatre
and Museum in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon
City
Despite the time consuming research of valuable information
regarding the past 118 years, Aguilar was able to trace the first batch of
graduates of the Academia Military, forerunner of PMA, founded by Gen. Emilio
Aguinaldo in 1898.
“This is not a mere list of individuals, it is a history
book of over a century of the Academy’s existence,” Aguilar said, adding that
“it narrates the history of the individual, of the class and of the Academy.”
“It also lists the veterans of various wars and military
campaigns. Those who may not have completed their training as cadets joined
various uniformed services, here and abroad. Some are currently serving in
allied armed forces while others have since retired.”
During the book launching, Aguilar recalled that “I was
still quite young when I started with a dream. Now, over 17 years later I am
glad it is no longer an empty statement but a reality.”
“It lists over 17,000 men and women who currently wear or
once wore the woolen gray, some blue serge tunic and the founding fathers,
khaki coat,” Aguilar pointed out.
The book includes the names of cadets from 1898 up to 2020
when the 2016 plebe cadets will graduate in 2020.
Aguilar disclosed that the book project was conceived “in
the late 1990s when a communist safe house was raided by joint military and
police intelligence operatives and among the documents recovered was a PMA
alumni register that included the home addresses and phone numbers of the
graduates.”
That paved the way when “I thought of drastically changing
the concept of the register but how it should differ from the alumni register
was a big challenge for me,” he said.
“With only the address replaced with another acceptable
substitute, nothing would attract those listed to turn to my concept,” Aguilar
added.
In 1980, or two years after he graduated from PMA, he
conducted a research at the Office of the Adjutant General (OTAG) in Camp Aguinaldo
By instinct, he reproduced the original documents as “an
important link to history.”
In fact, Aguilar said it took him about a year gathering the
data and kept them at his closet.
During the 1989 coup attempt staged by military rebels, the
Philippine Constabulary Headquarters in Camp Crame in Quezon City was hit by
rocket and “all the reference materials, all archival documents have been
reduced to dust (but) I am glad I was able to reproduce the said materials”
beforehand.
Eleven years had lapsed when he thought of starting his book
project in 2000 “revising the concept of the Alumni Register to add the former
cadets of each class, adopting birthplace or hometown in lieu of current
address, and introducing in each entry cadet serial number, cadet rank, cadet
company assignment, date of birth and those who went ahead, their dates of
death. These were the common data for the over 10,000 graduates and the 7,000
current and former cadets. I added the statistics for each class and the
general orders for their appointment as cadets and/or as graduates,” he said.
Aguilar further narrated: "This is a list of soldiers,
sailors, airmen, marines, coast guardsmen and policemen. On the other hand, it
would surprise you to also find in the list that some even became or some still
are leaders of the Communist Regional Party Committee, a Central Committee
member of the Moro National Liberation Front, a self-confessed spokesperson for
the Misuari-aligned Moro organization and a member of the peace negotiating
panel of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.”
Another discovery Aguilar made was the lists of “soldiers
turned inventors, book authors, politicians, newspaper columnists, university
professors, priests and preachers, diplomats, lawyers, movie actors, etc.”
During his active military service, Aguilar found himself in
the battlefield, mostly in Mindanao where he
led government forces in fighting Moro and communist rebels.
“While a biography or autobiography takes one or two years
to complete, this limited ‘biographies’ of 17,000 men and women took
cumulatively more than 17 years, 18 supposedly this coming October (2016), to
take its current form,” he said.
Despite a shoestring budget, Aguilar said that “with God’s
infinite grace,” he met three prospective benefactors -- Lt. Gen. Pedrito S.
Cadungog, former commanding general of the Philippine Air Force (PAF); Robert
and Ralph L. Joseph, through former Armed Forces vice chief of staff Lt. Gen.
Salvador M. Mison -- who expressed their desire to help him published the
almost 800 pages book.
Aguilar was humbled enough after he completed writing the
book which is his immense contribution to the country’s military history as it
is rich in invaluable data to present generation Filipinos and generations yet
to come.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=10&sid=&nid=10&rid=908985
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