PMA cadets train at Pag-asa Island, West Philippine Sea front line

The current airstrip on Pag-asa Island can’t serve cargo planes. Photo taken in August 2020. —Inquirer file photo

MANILA, Philippines — Senior cadets from the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) recently carried out an inaugural joint field training exercise at Pag-asa Island (Thitu) in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) that offered them a close look at the frontlines of a potential geopolitical flashpoint.

The cadets, who are graduating next month, are expected to take up leadership roles as future military officers amid an increasingly complex security environment.

From April 12 to 14, over 200 members of the PMA “Siklab-Laya” Class of 2025 conducted exercises at the island, which involved simulating an operation “against a notional external aggressor,” PMA superintendent Vice Adm. Bernard Caesar Valencia told the Inquirer on Sunday.

The activity is part of a broader joint field training exercise that runs from April 12 to 26, the longest so far, involving all cadets from first year to fourth year, Valencia said. Only the senior or first-class cadets made a trip to the island along with 40 training staff using the Philippine Navy’s landing dock BRP Davao del Sur.

READ: PMA cadets eyed to join West Philippine Sea drills

Pag-asa, one of the nine islands and reefs occupied by the Philippines in the WPS since the 1970s, is the sole detachment with a civilian population of about 300. The island’s civilian residents, as well as the soldiers and coast guard assigned there, frequently deal with harassment from China, which keeps a much larger and more developed military base on Zamora (Subi) Reef, located 22 kilometers (12 nautical miles) away.

China claims nearly all of the South China Sea and has overlapping claims with most of its Southeast Asian neighbors, including the Philippines. An international arbitration tribunal ruled in 2016 that China’s claims have no basis in international law, a decision Beijing has refused to recognize.

‘Defenders’ of PH

While the Navy and Air Force are the ones mostly directly involved in WPS ground operations, Valencia said the field training exercise was conducted jointly rather than service-centric “because we wanted to emphasize as early as possible that all [Armed Forces of the Philippines] operations are joint,” as high levels of readiness and responsiveness are required collectively among soldiers in accomplishing various missions.

“Being the pioneer class to conduct such an opening in the Pag-asa Island made the cadets further realize their respective roles as defenders of the country—something much bigger than themselves,” the PMA said in a series of Facebook posts about the event.

This year’s exercise was planned in line with the Philippine military’s shift to external defense operations and the adoption of the comprehensive archipelagic defense concept, the PMA said. It was referring to a new security strategy introduced in 2024 that focuses on territorial defense.

The PMA cadets also organized various educational and sports activities with the students of Pag-asa Integrated School during their stay on the island, it added. They also held a coastal cleanup drive and a release of newly hatched turtles as part of the PMA’s efforts to instill environmental awareness.