PMA cadet dies from stomach bleeding at Baguio hospital

Philippine Military Academy (BANDERA FILE PHOTO)

BAGUIO CITY — A 19-year-old fourth-class cadet of the Philippine Military Academy died on Labor Day (Monday, May 1) from internal bleeding due to stomach ulcers that were detected after he was accepted into the academy, one of his physicians said on Wednesday (May 3).

Cadet Fourth Class Erwin Christian Vergara had complained about stomach pains on April 22, and was confined in an intensive care unit at the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center when doctors detected five ulcers that required immediate treatment, said Dr. Sheila Marie Jardiolin, commanding officer of the PMA Hospital.

Jardiolin, who has rank of colonel as chief of the PMA Hospital, oversaw Vergara’s transfer from the PMA to BGHMC, and parried online speculation that the boy was maltreated, saying he did not have signs of bruising.

Vergara might have been suffering the ulcers before he was accepted for a 4-year training course at PMA on April 1, she said. The physical examinations undertaken at the academy would not have detected the ailment. Jardiolin said it took specialized examination procedures to detect Vergara’s illness after he finally admitted suffering abdominal pains.

“His mother told me [Vergara] kept things to himself, never even complaining about headaches,” she said.

“His doctors finally cleared him and [Vergara] was allowed to be moved from the ICU when bleeding recurred on May 1,” this time fatally, Jardiolin said.

“I fetched his parents from Alcala [town in Cagayan province],” she said. Vergara’s parents waived the autopsy suggested by PMA, and brought him home at 3 p.m. on Tuesday (May 2) after PMA gave him military honors,” Jardiolin said.  SFM