3 siblings in 3 AFP branches of service

FORT DEL PILAR, Baguio City – When Philippine Military Academy Cadet First Class Charito Casaclang formally becomes an Army second lieutenant Tuesday, she would be the third member of the Casaclang family to join the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Her brother Bienvenido (who belongs to the PMA Class of 1992) is a major in the Air Force and another brother, Brendo (Class of 1993) is a lieutenant commander in the Finance headquarters of the Navy. Twenty-year-old CFC Casaclang is among the 23 graduating female cadets and 119 set to join the Army. There are 220 members of the PMA Baghawi Class of 2008. She is from Lingayen, Pangasinan, and the youngest of seven children. When brother Bienvenido, who she would be calling "mistah" or schoolmate in the quaint PMA parlance, joined this premier Asian military institution, Charito was only two years old. "I wanted to be like them," she recalled but the PMA only accepted male cadets then. She said that she loved looking at their shiny shoes and crisp uniforms. But right after her brothers graduated, the PMA considered taking in female cadets, as stipulated in the Act. In 1994, the first female plebes entered the PMA and for Charito, her dream of joining her brothers became more possible. Actually, her nephew, Mark Brandon, graduated last year from the PMA. Her boyfriend also graduated last year but Casaclang said that they couldn’t yet marry as they have the "four-year rule" where a female cadet would not be allowed to marry until she completes four years of service with the AFP. - GMANews.TV