PMA CADETS. New cadets of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) test their agility and physical strength during the Reception of Cadets in Baguio City in this 2022 screen grab photo. A municipal trial court in the city on Friday (Aug. 4, 2023) found two PMA cadets guilty of slight physical injuries and sentenced them to 30 days imprisonment over the death of PMA 4thclass cadet Darwin Dormitorio on Sept. 18, 2019. (PNA file photo)
BAGUIO CITY – The Municipal Trial Court here Friday found two former cadets of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) guilty of slight physical injuries over the death of Cadet 4th Class Darwin Dormitorio in September 2019.
In a decision, Judge Roberto Mabalot sentenced convicted cadets Julius Carlo Tadena and Christian Zacarias to 30 days imprisonment of arresto menor, and to pay moral damages of PHP100,000 and an attorney's fee of PHP50,000.
Meanwhile, the other accused, PMA doctors Capt. Flor Apple Apostol and Maj. Ma. Ofelia Beloy, as well as Lt. Col. Caesar Almer Candelaria, were acquitted of the charge of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide.
The case stemmed from the death of Dormitorio on Sept.18, 2019, a day after he was found unconscious inside the cadets’ barracks in Mayo Hall of PMA, Fort Del Pilar.
The investigation showed that Dormitorio, then a 20-year-old cadet from Cagayan de Oro City, received “physical punishment” from upperclassmen after losing a pair of boots of a senior cadet.
The decision cited an autopsy report that said Dormitorio died due to blunt force trauma, which, based on investigations conducted after his death, was the result of “hazing and other kinds of maltreatment.”
The military officials, who are medical practitioners assigned to the PMA Station Hospital, were charged with alleged “gross failure to provide adequate medical care to Dormitorio,” which caused the death.
PMA actions
After the incident, the academy did a strip inspection of the cadets.
Several cadets were found to have been maltreated, which led to other cadets being suspended or turned back.
Several changes in the policies, including “rooming assignments,” were implemented by the PMA after the death of Dormitorio.
The leadership of the academy was also changed for the implementation of new policies to further protect the cadets who will become future leaders of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
A “war on hazing” was also waged not just by the cadets but officials of the military. (PNA)
