When we roamed around Baguio City, one of the places we spent our time was Philippine Military Academy which happened last May 2010. As we took our way to the said academy, I remembered the first time that I visited the academy when I was in high school, we visited the academy during Rizal Day which is a national holiday in the country that pays respect to the country’s national hero – Dr. Jose Rizal. Every 30th of December, the date that Dr. Jose Rizal died, the academy conducts military parade and we were able to witnessed it. I was reminded again with some amusing activity we did as we were young and playful that time, we saw some soldiers standing seriously on their post after the parade and we tried to make funny faces to test how focused and disciplined the soldiers in their duty. We tried some tricks and the soldiers we tested passed our expectations because we felt that we are not existing in front of them, as if they did not saw what we did, doing some crazy stuff in their front but they never smiled nor moved and never wavered on their post. Since then, even if I saw soldiers that seriously standing in some statue or similar to what we saw, I understand how serious they are in their post.
Main Gate
At the road inside PMA
Relics Point
Relics Point
Our cab took the road after we passed the main gate. The first thing we saw inside the academy was the Relics Point. This area is in the middle between roads not too far from the main gate and displaying historical equipment and weapons used during World War II.
Korean War Memorial
At Relics Point, we also found a Korean War Memorial which built to commemorate the Filipino soldiers who were members of Philippine Expeditionary Forces to Korea (Peftok) which was contingent of the United Nations forces that fought in the Korean War happened between 1950–1953. After Korean War Memorial, the next thing we saw was Cavaliers Park and Cadet Circle.
Cavaliers Park
Cadet Circle
Our walk continues until we reached Quezon Avenue, the road where most of the academy’s building can be found. We saw one of the main building which is Melchor Hall. At the opposite of the building are Sundial and Lim Hall (PMA Headquarters). At the side of the Lim Hall, we found helicopters, planes and jets displayed in open Air Force Museum.
Quezon Avenue (Inside the academy)
Lim Hall (Headquaters)
Sundial
Looking towards Lim Hall with Sundial
Air Force Museum
Tree House
PMA Grand Stand
Lopez Hall and Magilas Visitors Center
PMA Souvernir Shop
There is a Tree House just beside Air Force Museum where everyone can enjoy the view around the academy from the top. There is an open ground where they call it as PMA Grand Stand which it is like a sunken garden with Bermuda grass. Other buildings that we saw were Lopez Hall and Magilas Visitors Center. We found the PMA Museum as well and here we saw related artifacts about Philippine Military and its history which. And it was our last destination in the camp as we ended our tour inside the academy.
PMA Museum (Part 1)
PMA Museum (Part 2)
PMA Museum (Part 3)
PMA Museum (Part 4)
PMA Museum (Part 5)