ILOILO City – The Philippine Marines Corps will take in 400 recruits from Western Visayas.
Seventy percent will probably come from Iloilo, said Captain Jieve Ajijul, officer-in-charge of the Marines’ mobile recruitment team.
The Marines opened the hiring in the region by conducting screening and registration on Aug. 21 at the John B. Lacson Foundation Maritime University in Molo district.
Recruitment will continue until Sept. 4, a day before the scheduled qualifying examination on Sept. 5.
The Marines plan to conduct in Iloilo the exam and oath-taking ceremony for incoming soldiers from Western Visayas. They hope to hold the oath-taking in November.
As of Aug. 21 the Marines have accommodated 70 applicants from the region, said Ajijul, who paid a courtesy call in the office of Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. last Thursday.
Applicants must be 18 to 23 years old, a natural-born Filipino and a high school or college graduate, the Marines said.
They must submit original copies of their birth certificate issued by the Philippine Statistic Authority, high school Form 137 (rating card), high school diploma, and transcript of records (if college graduate).
Recruits will be made to take oath before they are subjected to training for six months. They will be paid P18,587 a month during training, excluding food, billeting and uniform allowances.
Training graduates will become Privates First Class, who are entitled to a monthly pay of P29,668.
New recruits will be deployed to Southern Mindanao, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, and Palawan, the Marines said.
The last time the Marines recruited members was in 2004 – 14 years ago. At the time they were able to get 300 recruits from Western Visayas.
“Ngayon balik ulit iyong Marines dito kasi magdadagdag kami ng matatapang galing sa Iloilo at Western Visayas,” said Ajijul./PN
