Philippine Military Academy gets its first woman Commandant of Cadets

Colonel Leah Lorenzo-Santiago of the Philippine Army became the first woman to serve as Commandant of Cadets at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) on Saturday, October 17, 2026. She took over from interim commandant Colonel Eugene Henry Cabusao at a change-of-command ceremony at the academy in Baguio City. The post puts her in charge of the training, discipline and leadership development of every cadet at the country's premier military school.

The Commandant of Cadets is one of the most senior and visible jobs at a military academy. The commandant leads the Headquarters Tactics Group, runs the day-to-day military training of the cadets, enforces discipline, and shapes how future officers learn to lead. The post reports directly to the superintendent, the academy's top official. For more than three decades after women were first admitted, this job was held only by men. Placing a woman in it means that the officer who sets the standard for every cadet, male and female, is now a woman who came through the same system.

Her own path shows how long such change can take. Lorenzo-Santiago entered the academy in 1993 as one of its first female cadets. The 1992 law opened a traditionally male institution to women, but finishing the course was another matter: the first seven women graduated in 1997. Those seven became known as the "Magnificent Seven" and were commissioned as the Philippine military's first academy-trained female junior officers. Lorenzo-Santiago not only finished the course but graduated at the top academically and third overall, and became the academy's first woman to graduate summa cum laude, the highest academic honour.

The ceremony itself marked how far that first generation has come. Reports from the event said two of the seven pioneering women who are still in active service, and six members of the original batch of women admitted in 1993, attended the installation.

The appointment also comes under a new academy leadership. Lieutenant General Michael Logico took command as the PMA's 86th superintendent on July 22, 2026. He praised her selection and said her promotion to brigadier general, a one-star general's rank, was expected after the Senate returns from its recess. A woman leading a whole corps of cadets in a neighbouring Asian democracy offers an example of where such reforms can lead over time.

Short-term: Lorenzo-Santiago now oversees all cadet training activities at the academy, from military drills to discipline and leadership instruction. Her pending promotion to brigadier general would make her one of the senior-most women in the Philippine Army's training system once the Senate confirms it.

Long-term: Cadets now see a woman at the head of their chain of command throughout their training. That may encourage more young women to apply to the academy and stay the course, and it may change how male cadets view women as commanders. It also sets a precedent for women to be considered for the other top posts at the academy, including superintendent.

Who is affected: The cadets of the Philippine Military Academy, especially women cadets; the women officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines who joined after the 1997 pioneers; and military academies elsewhere that are integrating women into their training and command structures.

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