Two cadets dropped from PMA graduation

Philippine Military Academy (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO)

FORT DEL PILAR, Baguio City – Two male cadets will not be graduating today, Sunday, as members of the PMA Mabalasik Class of 2019 for violating regulations.

The cadets, who were not identified, were removed from the original 263 graduating cadets on Friday, May 24, two days before they would have been commissioned into junior officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said Maj. Reynan Afan, PMA spokesman.

“If they are delayed for a year, they will already be part of the next graduating Class of 2020,” he said, although the two cadets may still catch up should they fulfill tasks meted as their punishment.

Because their infractions did not violate the Cadet Honor Code, the two were not suspended, Afan said.

The Honor Code is a set of rules which outline how cadets must behave inside and outside the academy.

“A cadet’s graduation always depends on his performance in all the aspects of training inside the academy,” Afan said.

In the past, graduating cadets who were delayed were accorded “special graduating rites” inside the Longayban Hall at PMA, he said.

The Mabalasik Class valedictorian is Cadet First Class Dionne Mae Umalla of Alilem town in Ilocos Sur province. (Editor: Cenon B. Bibe Jr.)