Employing PMA’s honor code

“It appears that Telan’s death could have been prevented if the cadets and military personnel concerned observed the due diligence expected of them.

The Philippine Military Academy has an honor code that is supposedly strictly enforced. It binds PMA cadets to the following principle — “We, the cadets, do not lie, cheat, steal, nor (sic) tolerate among us those who do.”

That honor code should also apply to PMA officials. After all, the obligation not to lie, cheat, steal or tolerate liars, cheats and thieves should not end when one is no longer a cadet. That obligation continues for cadet and military officials alike inside the academy. What’s sauce for the goose is also sauce for the gander.

In 2014, that honor code was considered a sufficient basis for PMA authorities to dismiss from the academy Cadet Jeff Aldren Cudia, a graduating senior and the expected salutatorian of the graduating class. Graduation was just one month away.

Cudia happened to be two minutes tardy for one class because the professor in his previous class told him to wait after class to receive a document. When Cudia was asked to explain why he was tardy, the cadet said that he was dismissed late by the previous professor.

His explanation was construed to be a lie and, therefore, a violation of the honor code. Hence, Cudia was dismissed.

There is nothing substantially different from being made to wait by one’s professor after the end of the class, and being dismissed late by the professor in that class. To the surprise of many, however, the PMA honor committee sweepingly concluded that Cudia lied.

The members of that committee should go back to grammar school.

Anyway, this editorial is not about Cudia, but about the PMA honor code.

Freshman students at the PMA are called fourth class cadets or plebes.

Last 18 September, PMA plebe Darwin Dormitorio died of hazing in the hands of his beastly upperclassmen. One beating Dormitorio got was for misplacing an upperclassman’s pair of combat boots. That beating was so severe it contributed to Dormitorio’s death.

The ban against hazing in the PMA has been supposedly in force long before Dormitorio was killed. Despite the prohibition, hazing continues to take place at the PMA, as shown precisely by what happened to Dormitorio.

Why is hazing continuously practiced at the PMA when it was officially abolished years ago?

Last week, another fourth class cadet at the PMA died inside the academy. Plebe Mario Telan Jr. was found drowned at the deep end of the PMA swimming pool, after he attended swimming classes.

It appears that Telan’s death could have been prevented if the cadets and military personnel concerned observed the due diligence expected of them, and by PMA protocols.

At the end of the swimming class, Telan’s two instructors and 22 classmates did not bother to ascertain if Telan was able to get out of the pool just like everyone else. That is a protocol in every swimming class. Had they done what they were expected to do, they would have seen Telan in the deep end of the pool, and maybe they could still have resuscitated him in time.

The presence of swimming instructors at the pool area does not dispense with the need for a lifeguard on duty. That need is best demonstrated by what happened to Telan.

How does the PMA honor code enter the discussion?

The current plebes are in the best position to expose all the hazing taking place clandestinely in the academy. They can also shed light on what really happened to Telan.

Each plebe should be asked what they know about hazing in the PMA. Before each questioning, the plebe should be reminded about the ban in the honor code against telling a lie, or tolerating liars.

If, in the process, it is discovered that some other plebe, upperclassman or PMA official knew about the hazing practiced in the academy in the past, and that those in the know concealed such material information from the inquiring authorities by denying that hazing takes place in the academy, then those who concealed such material information should be summarily dismissed from the academy, like what happened to Cudia five years ago. The criminal cases can come after that.