Two moms show women power in Air Force, Police

WOMEN OFFICERS. Maj. Florianne Reyes of the Philippine Air Force and Senior Insp. Arieza Otida of the Philippine National Police have risen from the ranks to become officers in the male-dominated military and police organizations. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

Two women are showing the way that gender is no hindrance in getting ahead in the male-dominated Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police (PNP) organizations.

Maj. Florianne Reyes of the Philippine Air Force and Senior Insp. Arieza Otida of the PNP have set the bar high in their chosen professions and have proven that they can do the job as well as their male counterparts or even excel and exceed their expectations.

This despite the adversities and challenges these two mothers faced on their way to getting where they are now.

Thirty-four-year-old Reyes, a mother of two, is a business management graduate of the University of the Philippines – Cebu before entering the PAF, while thirty-five-year-old Otida, a mother of four, is a political science graduate of the of the University of San Jose-Recoletos and was on her third year of law studies before she joined the PNP.

Both mothers also have a common denominator: their decisions to join the military and police professions were prompted by the wishes of their parents.

Despite their initial hesitations, their following the wishes of their parents bore fruit as they found inspiration in going forward in their chosen field and eventually find their niche.

Flying high with Reyes

Graduating from the Philippine Air Force Officer Candidate Course (PAFOCC) in 2005, Reyes started flying her first plane, an 8-seater twin-engine N22 Nomad aircraft, before transitioning to a 36-capacity F27 Fokker.

The first in her family to join the profession, Reyes took a break from flying after giving birth to her second son in October of last year, but she will resume her flight activities in May with a 70-capacity CASA C-295 aircraft.

According to Reyes, she is happy to see that the ratio of female to male pilots have been improving over the years, with their unit, the 220 Airlift Wing, consisting of more or less 20 percent of female pilots.

Reyes said that her unit had 72 male pilots and 18 female pilots.

“The 220th Airlift Wing is the primary unit of the Air Force that provides tactical airlift operations in support of the AFP. Our aircraft are the C-130, C295, F-27 Fokker and the N22 Nomad,” she said.

Otida leading the pack

Otida, a daughter of two retired police officers, on the other hand, never thought of joining the same profession as that of her parents.

She, however, heeded her parents wishes and joined what she called as a “last resort” just in case nothing would pan out for her in life.

Her last resort turned out to be the right choice for her because she now has 12 years of service in the police force under her belt. She rose from the ranks to become a police station chief, the only female holding the position in the city of Cebu.

The police station she heads, Police Station 8 located in Talamban, covers the most number of barangays at 17 in Cebu City.

Under her watch, the police station was awarded for having the most number of surrenderers in the government-backed Operation Tokhang in the region, totaling to around 1,400 at most.

As the National Women’s Month, with the theme, “We Make Change Work for Women,” Reyes and Otida are encouraging women to be empowered and letting them know that despite the stereotypes and gender barriers, women are powerful and are capable of doing things as well as men do, and that they can be whoever they want to be.

They also encouraged women to support each other.