First Filipina graduate of Japan National Defense Academy tobe welcomed by the PAF

(First Filipina graduate of Japan National Defense Academy)

COL JESUS VILLAMORAIR BASE, Pasay City (DWDD) – The Philippine Air Force (PAF) is expecting the   return of the first Filipina graduate of the prestigious Japan National Defense Academy (JNDA).

Second Lieutenant Karen Eve E. Mante recently got her rank during the oath-taking ceremony administered by Philippine Ambassador to Japan Manuel M. Lopez  held at the Embassy grounds in Tokyo.

Mante is one of the first two foreign female graduates of the Academy. She was given an award as an outstanding cadet and a badge for excellence in physical training.

The young lady officer from Davao, spent a year in the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) before being sent by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to the JNDA as a full scholar.

Other witnesses during the oath taking and donning of rank ceremony were Navy Captain Samuel Zamar Felix, Philippine Defense Attaché; Col. Noel Zablan Plaza, Incoming Defense Attaché; Colonel Hideo Takahashi and Colonel Hiroko Konno of the Japan Air Self Defense Force, Air Staff Office; and the seven Filipino cadets currently studying at the JNDA.

According to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Colonel Takahashi was Japan’s Defense Attaché in the Philippines in 2007 and was instrumental in organizing the scholarships for Filipino cadets in Japan while Colonel Konno was the first female graduate of the JNDA.

Source:http://dwdd.com.ph/2015/first-filipina-graduate-of-japan-national-defense-academy-tobe-welcomed-by-the-paf/