Colonel Francel Margareth Padilla is the first female soldier to hold the spokesperson post for the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

AFP chief General Romeo Brawner Jr. publicly presented Padilla as the military's new mouthpiece in a media briefing shortly after the command conference at Camp Aguinaldo on Monday.

Padilla replaced Col. Medel Aguilar, who was a former concurrent AFP spokesperson and the acting head of the AFP’s Civil Relations Service for more than a year.

During the media briefing, Padilla said she is optimistic that there will be a smooth transition of the post between her and Aguilar.

“I want I also want to thank the Chief of Staff for the trust and confidence given me to be the new AFP spokesperson,” she added.

“We will still continue with whatever it is that we are doing in terms of informing the public appropriately, in terms of the thrusts of the AFP,” she noted.

The newly installed spokesperson is currently serving as a commissioned officer in the Philippine Army's Signal Corps.

She is a member of the Philippine Military Academy's "Sanghaya" Class of 2000.

Further, Padilla previously served as the commander of the 7th Signal Battalion, Army Signal Regiment of the Philippine Army—spearheading innovations, embracing changes, and championing modernization within the 7th Infantry Division’s Area of Operations in Northern Luzon.

She was then included in the Top 10 Women in Cyber Security in the Philippines in 2020.

In 2021, she was recognized as one of the Top 30 Women in Security in the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations.

An advocate of AFP’s “cyber for peace initiative" in the country, Padilla became the first Filipina to be featured in the International Cyber News magazine for the October Cybersecurity Month 2023 issue.

Also, Padilla was recently adjudged as one of the finalists in the Cybersecurity Woman of the Year Awards 2023—surpassing other nominees from 62 countries in June 2023.

The AFP said international entities recognize Padilla as an “Epic Woman in Cyber and a Wonder Woman in Tech” for being a Certified Ethical Hacker, a Certified Secure Computer user, an international lecturer, a moderator, and a panelist.

“My background in cyber security would really help also in the out-of-the-box that we are gonna be doing, moving forward in terms of the guidance of the President,” Padilla said.