CHR: PMA Cadet Cudia not guilty of lying, should be granted diploma
Former Philippine Military Academy Cadet 1st Class Jeff Aldrin Cudia is greeted by and given advice by Commission on Human Rights (CHR) chairperson Loretta Ann “Etta” Rosales. The CHR recommended criminal and administrative charges against the school’s Honor Committee at the presentation of CHR final report on his case held at a hotel in Quezon City. INQUIRER/LYN RILLON
MANILA, Philippines—The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has found Cadet Jeff Aldrin Cudia not guilty of the offense he was charged with in the Philippine Military Academy and recommended to President Benigno Aquino that he be issued a diploma as a graduate of the premier military school.
In presenting the findings and recommendations in the 30-page “Final Report on Cadet Cudia,” CHR Chair Loretta Ann Rosales scolded the PMA leadership’s handling of the case, especially on the aspect of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
“The PMA leadership, by failing to exercise command responsibility, rendered itself complicit in this mockery of justice,” Rosales said in a press conference on Wednesday.
Cudia was not allowed to graduate from PMA last March following his dismissal in February after the PMA Honor Committee found him guilty of “lying” in explaining why he was two minutes late for a class.
Cudia said his instructor, Monique Costales, in the previous Management class dismissed them a little bit late and that he was under instruction from Costales to wait for the instructor to give him the section grade.
Cudia appealed the punishment of dismissal given to him, but the PMA Cadet Review and Appeals Board upheld it.
However, when the PMA asked the Armed Forces of the Philippines to remove Cudia’s name from the cadet corps roll, AFP Chief of Staff Emmanuel Bautista ordered the academy to reopen the investigation.
The CHR decided to look into the case after Cudia’s family appealed, saying his rights were violated.
Rosales said that based on CHR investigation, Cudia did not intend to deceive or mislead his peers and superiors with the statement he gave in his written appeal.
She said Maj. Dennis Hindang, his tactical officer, was the one who ascribed malice to Cudia’s statements, thereby paving the way for an unjustified referral to the Honor Committee.
The cadet corps is bound by the Honor Code which states, “We, the cadets, do not lie, cheat, steal, nor tolerate among us those who do so.”
The Honor Committee is composed of selected cadets with high moral ascendancy among the corps who are in charge of strictly implementing the code.
But the CHR investigation showed the Honor Committee proceeding, particularly the voting process, was a “sham trial.”
“Without doubt, there was only one voting conducted which yielded an 8-1 vote, which was announced by the committee,” the CHR report said.
Under the written rules of the Honor Committee, only a unanimous vote is sufficient to convict.
According to Rosales, the written rules do not provide for a re-vote, or even a second deliberation, which was what the Honor Committee members did exactly when they resorted to “chambering.”
She said the evidence showed that there was no second voting because what they did was to pressure Cadet Dalton John Lagura (now second lieutenant.) to verbally accede to a change of vote from not guilty to guilty.
“I say verbally, because soon Rhona Salvacion (now second lieutenant) announced a 9-0 guilty vote, even if the new written ballot of Cadet Lagura, which now indicated a guilty position, was accomplished and submitted several hours later,” Rosales said.
“Clearly then, it was the Honor Committee and Major Hindang that violated the Honor Code of the PMA,” she stressed.
Rosales also questioned the wisdom of allowing Cudia’s peers to judge him when they were all within the same age bracket and still inexperienced in making sound judgment.
Rosales said that the PMA, as a state-run educational institution, would be violating Cudia’s human rights should it refuse to rectify the grievous harm done by the Honor Committee against Cudia.
“I, therefore, call upon the Secretary of Defense, Voltaire Gazmin, and his Excellency and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, to take all possible steps to see that this is done,” Rosales said.
“The credibility of the Armed Forces and the success of its transformation program hangs on the balance,” she added.
Rosales stressed that the CHR was not imposing its findings on the PMA leadership but was simply reminding them that “PMA is not above the human rights law.”
Cudia and his parents were present at the press conference. At the end of the presentation of the report, Cudia said he could not say whether he would still want to join the Navy but his father already ruled out his return to the military.
The CHR also recommended the filing of administrative, criminal (for perjury), and civil suits for violations of the Honor Code, dishonesty and violation of the secrecy of the ballot, tampering with the true result of the voting, intentional omission in the Minutes of substantive part of the formal trial proceedings which is prejudicial to the interest of justice, and discrimination, against officers and members of the Honor Committee who are now all second lieutenants.
They are : Mike Anthony Mogol, Arwi Martinez, Renato Carino, Niko Angelo Tarayao, Jeanelyn Cabrido, Kim Adrian Martal, Jairus Fantin, Bryan Sonny Arlegui, Bianchiheimer Edra, Jennifer Cuarteron, Leoncio Nico de Jesus, Salvaciona and Cuadra.
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