The recent hazing incident at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) which led to the untimely death of Cadet Fourth Class Darwin Dormitorio last 18 September has been condemned by many, the media included.

A fourth class cadet or plebe is like a freshman in a university.

Witnesses who cooperated in the investigation conducted by the Baguio City police authorities linked several PMA upperclassmen to the fatal hazing of Dormitorio. One account says that Dormitorio was badly beaten for a missing pair of combat boots.

The police said that criminal charges will be filed against the cadets involved in the hazing incident. Those cadets have been relieved from the academy.

After describing the hazing incident as an exception rather than as a practice in the academy, PMA Superintendent Lt. General Ronnie Evangelista and PMA Commandant of Cadets Brig. General Bartolome Bacarro resigned their posts, citing command responsibility.

The resignation of Evangelista and Bacarro, however, does not exculpate them from legal liability. Like the cadets who will face charges for the death of Dormitorio, the two generals must face criminal raps as well.

Under Section 3(e) of Republic Act 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, Evangelista and Bacarro, being public officers, should be charged for causing undue injury to Dormitorio and his family on account of their gross inexcusable negligence in discharging their official functions as top officials of the PMA.

The gross inexcusable negligence attributable to Evangelista and Bacarro is evident from the circumstances surrounding the hazing incident.

Being top administrators of the PMA, Evangelista and Bacarro must have been aware of the existence of hazing at the academy. Considering that both generals live and work at the PMA grounds, it was impossible for them not to know what was actually taking place around them. If they were not aware of any hazing, that’s gross inexcusable negligence on their part.

Evangelista and Bacarro are aware that all plebes must pass a rigorous physical and medical examination as a prerequisite to admission to the PMA. That means Dormitorio must have been in the best of physical health and fitness when he entered the academy.

Surprisingly, Dormitorio was confined at the PMA hospital for two weeks due to stomach pains. Dormitorio’s two-week confinement in hospital, despite his being in the best of health upon entering the academy, should have raised red flags for Evangelista and Bacarro, enough to suggest foul play in their midst.

Earlier in 2007, the media reported that Erwin Christian Vergara, a PMA plebe, died at the Baguio General Hospital about a month after he entered the academy. The stated cause of his death was “hypovolemic shock secondary to upper gastro-intestinal bleeding secondary to peptic ulcer.”

How can a physically fit plebe like Vergara end up dead a month after entering the PMA? The Vergara incident may be too belated in the past, but it should have served as a warning in the past to future PMA officials like Evangelista and Bacarro that PMA protocols, allegedly in place as early as 1997, are honored more in breach than in observance.

PMA officials other than the two generals must also face criminal raps.

It was revealed that the unidentified tactical officer assigned to Dormitorio was aware that his ward was hospitalized on 16 September from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., supposedly for urinary tract infection. He also knew that Dormitorio vomited in the barracks at 8 p.m. on 17 September, and then again at 1 a.m. on 18 September. Despite these

tell-tale signs of serious injury, the tactical officer marked time before bringing Dormitorio to the hospital at 4 a.m. One hour later, Dormitorio was dead.

That inordinate delay is gross inexcusable negligence because prompt medical attention might have saved Dormitorio’s life.

Dormitorio’s autopsy indicates that he died of hazing, as seen in the bruises found on his body. The PMA physician who examined Dormitorio, and who must have seen the bruises because the physician attributed Dormitorio’s death to “cardiac arrest secondary to internal hemorrhage,” did not report those bruises to higher PMA authorities. That failure to report the true extent of Dormitorio’s injuries is an act of criminal concealment.