After sweet revenge, what is next for PMA cadets?

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

March L. Fianza

BAGUIO CITY — Thanks to the latest controversy over hazing ceremonies at the Philippine Military Academy that led to the death of Cadet 4th Class Darwin Dormitorio, it made us mindful again of scandals that involved high-ranking military and police officials, past and present.

The youthful Dormitorio died after being hospitalized twice in August for stomach pain. Police investigators said, he had bruises on his stomach of which doctors claimed, was consistent with hazing. What a pointless way to waste a good life!

He was laid to rest, with soldiers honoring him with a final gun salute last Wednesday in his hometown of Cagayan de Oro City.

The 20 year-old Dormitorio, according to the police probe, was beaten by his upperclassmen over a pair of missing combat boots that was entrusted to him. But that is not how the public sees it.

The story about a missing pair of combat boots could be true but it is a shallow alibi to justify punishment. What is closer to the truth is that cadets enjoy the vicious cycle of sweet revenge.

It is the feel of satisfaction from inflicting harm on someone, most probably your lower classman, after being the victim of your upperclassman in previous times. I asked around and most replied that hazing as an act of revenge is part of a cadet’s life.

This, even while a stern honor code on PMA’s wall says that “cadets do not lie, cheat, steal, nor tolerate those who do so”. This, because nobody has been sent to jail despite harsh penalties in the anti-hazing law that was signed by President Duterte last year.

Obviously, there were more hazing activities unseen by the public because these were done inside quarters. After the investigation, the PMA said it was looking for signs of injury among its cadets after two others were hospitalized, also due to suspected hazing.

Death is the worst result of a lax administration of a military camp with collateral consequences such as the resignation of PMA Superintendent Lt. Gen. Ronnie Evangelista and Brig. Gen. Bartolome Bacarro, the Commandant of Cadets.

Col. Cesar Candelaria, commander of Fort Del Pilar Station Hospital where Dormitorio and the two other cadets were confined, was also sacked.

They are now with the navy as described in jest by their colleagues because of their “floating” status. As for the perpetrators, four were relieved; two were suspended for a year while one was penalized to serve special confinement. There are more suspects.

While Lt. Gen. Evangelista said they will make sure that Dormitorio gets justice, hold people accountable and prevent the occurrence of maltreatment in the future, such actions will not bring back the life of Dormitorio.

PMA officials repeatedly said that the military school does not condone the maltreatment of its cadets. In their own words they said that it was wrong for a cadet to die in the hands of a fellow cadet.

They were mindful that hazing was being done in any of the rooms at any time, but they did nothing to stop the malpractice because they passed it off as a disciplinary mechanism for cadets and nobody will die. Then the inevitable thing happened.

Excuse the persistence but no matter how the public wants to read and talk about lighter things, scandals and controversies involving the police and the military are always on the hourly news.

Remember the case of retired Army Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia, the comptroller and all the former AFP chiefs implicated in fund anomalies by a military finance officer. The PMA honor code was set aside here in exchange for money.

News articles that time said an estimated P1.5 billion

 in AFP funds were allegedly placed anomalously in an unaudited pool of discretionary resources where Garcia allegedly plundered P303 million as head of the comptroller’s office.

The honor code was also set aside when a number of PMA alumni were charged for large-scale corruption in various procurement anomalies in the PNP. This means that there are profitable prospects in the PNP that is why PMA graduates compete for control of the police force.

Years ago, Scout Ranger Rene Jarque exposed the practice of “conversion” as the fountainhead of AFP corruption. It is the process of converting purchases into their cash equivalent.

Converted funds can be used to pay personal expenses, allowances, travel expenses, buying a house and car, paying personal credit card bills, night-clubbing and philandering, claimed Jarque. Then came the “Euro Generals”.

In August of 2018, President Duterte dismissed from the service Lt. Col. Hector Maraña, former PMA comptroller, for malversation of P15M of cadets’ allowances, and fired some 20 officials of the V. Luna Medical Center of the AFP over alleged procurement anomalies.

Cadet Dormitorio’s death will now test the Anti-Hazing Act of 2018 that even holds liable administrators of schools where the hazing occurred. This was passed following the death of another young man Horacio Castillo who was beaten by members of his fraternity.

PMA officials and Senator Bato dela Rosa called Dormitorio’s death an isolated case, again forgetting that the meaningless murder of just one in an institution such as the PMA is like murdering the whole cadet corp.

True, the cadets may soon be in a shooting war where they may have to kill, but this should never be in the conduct of hazing, sweet revenge or maltreatment where the victim is helpless and does not deserve to be beaten to death.

After the hazing, what’s next at PMA and what’s next for the cadets after they take their assignments somewhere? Killing someone in an initiation rite in the name of a twisted definition of discipline is the most evil way to begin a career outside the PMA. They are murderers but they will be our future appointed and elected government officials.