Division News

AFP's FIRST WOMAN SPOKESPERSON INSPIRES SDOQC PERSONNEL

By: SDOQC/ppdepatillo

Col. Francel Margareth Padilla Taborlupa, the first female spokesperson of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, dellivered an inspirational message at the Schools Division Office Quezon City's launching of its 2024 National Women's Month celebration during the flag raising ceremony on March 4, 2024. Her message encouraged the audience, the women especially, to break ceilings, be persons of value, and mentors, no matter how challenging it is to be in a male-dominated world.

Col. Taborlupa, one of the ASEAN's top cyber security development practitioner, described herself as a simple provincial girl who was not a stranger to male-dominated realms. Firstly, she was the only girl among 4 siblings. She also started her tertiary education at the University of Sto. Tomas in the College of Engineering, another field dominated by men. Her older brother, Asst. Schools Division Superintendent Engr. Marc Voltaire A. Padilla, then pushed her into taking the qualifying examinations for entry into the prestigious Philippine Military Academy - still another bastion of the males.

Her experiences have helped shape her into the woman she is now, a foremost expert in cyber security, a pioneer in the 4th domain of operations in the AFP - the cyber realm. She has placed the Philippines on the global map of cyber security through her project named Cyber for Peace Initiative, which among other things enables the gathering of data in the field for accurate input for research in various fields, thereby contributing to learning and nation building.