I would like to congratulate bright and proud members of Philippine Military Academy ‘Maringal’ Class of 1988 for scoring a Philippine record this week with the designation of two of their members as chiefs of the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

I’m referring to my friend, former PNP spokesperson and now the 27th Chief,PNP, General Dionards Carlos and Gen. Andy Centino, the 57th AFP chief of staff. Both have the proven track record, integrity, competence and loyalty to the country which catapulted them to the top of the armed services.

I’m saying that members of PMA Class of 1988 this week actually score a Philippine record with President Duterte’s decision to designate Carlos as PNP chief and Gen. Centino as AFP chief vice another mistah, Gen. Jose Faustino who retired from the military at the age of 56 last Friday.

Read the following facts and you will see why I am telling of a record. The officers I will be mentioning are all incumbents and are ‘Maringals.’ Admiral Leo Laroya is the commandant of the Philippine Coast Guard; Director General Wilkins Villanueva is the head of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

Vice Admiral Adel Bordado is the Philippine Navy chief; Lt. Gen. Allen Paredes is the Philippine Air Force commanding general; Lt. Gen. Boyet Burgos is the commanding general of the AFP Northern Luzon Command; Lt. Gen. Bob Bacarro is the head of the AFP Southern Luzon Command;

Lt. Gen. Iking Enriquez is the head of the AFP Western Command; Lt. Gen. Alfred Rosario is the commanding general of the AFP Western Mindanao Command; Lt. Gen. Bib Dauz is the head of the AFP Central Command;

Lt. Gen. Erick Gloria is the AFP Deputy Chief of Staff; Lt. Gen. Ferdie Divina is the head of the PNP Directorate for Integrated Police Operations-Southern Luzon; Lt. Gen. Marni Marcos is the head of the DIPO-Northern Luzon; Lt. Gen. Joel Balba is the director of the PNP DIPO-Visayas; while Lt. Gen. CJ Cartujano is the PMA Superintendent.

Another good friend from PMA Class 1988, former PNP Colonel Michael Ray Aquino also shared me this trivia. He said that while they were about to graduate from Fort del Pilar in 1988, Dionards Carlos and Allen Paredes swapped places.

Carlos originally should have joined the Air Force while Paredes was to join the now defunct Philippine Constabulary. However, Carlos was disqualified from joining the PAF since he has no ‘depth perception’ which is needed to become a pilot.

The rest is history since the one who should have joined the PAF entered the Constabulary and on Friday became the head of the PNP, the PC successor while Paredes, who should have joined the PC became the Air Force chief.

As I have written years ago, members of PMA ‘Maringal’ Class of 1988 are good friends way back. One of them is Michael Ray Aquino or ‘Ninoy’ to relatives, friends and peers. Ninoy was the former operations chief of the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force headed by former PNP chief, now Senator Ping Lacson.

During the PAOCTF days, Michael Ray commanded wide respect and recognition in the force where he became one of the youngest police colonels while sending fear to the hearts of the country’s most notorious kidnappers, drug lords, bank robbers and terrorists.

The rest again is history as Ninoy went to jail in the United States after being hunted by the former Macapagal-Arroyo administration and being accused of helping to transmit classified information from the US to Philippine opposition leaders. He returned to the country and was detained at the NBI jail in connection with the Dacer-Corbito double murder case until he and his co-accused led by Sen. Lacson were acquitted. Ninoy is now living a peaceful and blessed life with his wife Fatima and son Neion.

Speaking of PMA Class 1988 members in the PNP, there are only now only six of them in remaining in the police force led by Gen. Carlos. The others are Lt. Generals Divina, Marcos, and Balba; PNP Director for Personnel and Records Management, Maj. Gen. RJ Hinanay and PNP DIPO-Visatas deputy director, Major Gen. Jun Tadeo.

The others have retired last year or this year namely Major Generals Ono Daway, Lito Casimiro and Dennis Agustin and Brigadier Generals Lito Daniel, Sammy Rodriguez, R’win Pagkalinawan, Rene Pamuspusan and Boyet Samala as well as Brig. Gen. Jun Tadeo, the 2nd youngest in the Class who will retire from the force on May 24 next year.

Casimiro and Agustin, a bull-strong officer whom I known indulges in rowing, boxing and motorcycle riding apart from being a basketball teammate retired last month and last week after leading the PNP Directorates for Logistics and Intelligence respectively.

Lt. Gen. Divina, who gained fame as a Bulacan police director and went on to become an Eastern Visayas police director will retire on May 5 next year. Hinanay, retiring on February 3, 2022 commanded the PNP Crime Laboratory for several years and is now the PNP Director for Personnel and Records Management after a stint as PNP-CSG head.

Just like Dionards, Balba is another well-rounded officer who used to visit me and my family in our house in sleepy Antipolo City when he was still the Rizal police director. A simple and unassuming guy, Joel and I used to have a couple of iced cold beer before calling it a night during his stint as Rizal PNP director.

He went on to head two police district in Metro Manila: the Eastern Police District and the Manila Police District before becoming a PRO8 director and later the elite PNP-SAF. Now the DIPO-Visayas head, Balba on record is the youngest PMA Class 1988 member in the PNP. He will be retiring on June 11, 2022.

Marcos is another silent, unassuming but hardworking official who used to be the country’s top cybercop when he became a PNP-ACG director until he became the RD of the PRO-Bangsamoro Administrative Region in June 2019. Marni went on to head the PNP Directorate for Comptrollership before being transferred as PNP Director for Investigation and Detective Management and later DIPO-Northern Luzon.

Carlos is a known ‘soldier’s soldier,’—a well-rounded officer, skydiver, scuba diver, Big Bike rider, a Special Action Force officer. He used to be a Quezon police director who went on to become a PNP spokesman, a PNP Aviation Security Group and PNP Highway Patrol Group director, a PRO8 director and later head of the PNP Directorate for Police-Community Relations.

Dionards also became a PNP Director for Information Communications Technology Management, a DIPO-Visayas head and later the PNP-TCDS which is the 4th highest position in the police force. He is the 3rd youngest PMA Class 1988 in the PNP since he will be retiring on May 5, 2022.