Cagayan de Oro mourns for PMA cadet killed in hazing
PLEBEIAN WELCOME Members of the Philippine Military Academy Class of 2023 are welcomed by their upperclassmen after setting foot in the academy in June. Slain cadet Darwin Dormitorio was among this group. —Vincent Cabreza
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — This city, home for Philippine Military Academy Cadet Fourth Class Darwin Dormitorio, is in mourning amid official pronouncement the aspiring soldier died of hazing.
“The Xavier Ateneo community mourns the death of Darwin Dormitorio,” the school community said in a post on social media.
The 20-year-old Darwin completed his senior high school at Xavier University.
Dormitorio’s teachers and classmates attended a mass offered for him in Xavier University high school in Upper Carmen, this city, Friday morning.
“We are all very saddened by the tragic death of PMA Cadet Dormitorio, a promising local boy from Cagayan de Oro City, whose dreams were shattered needlessly. We mourn with the bereaved family and relatives,” said Mayor Oscar Moreno.
“We urge the authorities to thoroughly investigate the death and to leave no stone unturned,” Moreno added.
Moreno also demanded that justice be served against the suspects in the hazing of Dormitorio at the PMA, the country’s premier military school.
“Mr. Dormitorio’s death should not pass unresolved regardless of any circumstance,” Moreno further said.
The victim is the son of retired Army Col. William Dormitorio, a member of PMA class 1974.
The elder Dormitorio figured prominently in the Army revolt in Mindanao in 1989, along with then Colonel Alexander Noble, his colleague in the Reform Armed Forces Movement or RAM.
Misamis Oriental Gov. Yevgeny Vincente Emano on Saturday lamented how Dormitorio’s death ended the life of an individual “whose ambition in life is to become productive, useful and helpful to our country.”
“I believe that Darwin joined the academy to be molded and trained military discipline and not to die a tragic death, Emano said.
He could have achieved a better future for him and his family, and could be one of those who would offer their lives out of love to our country,” the governor said.
Emano has called on the PMA administration to strictly impose its policies to avoid a repeat of the incident and bring to justice the perpetrators of the crime.
Dormitorio’s remains are expected to arrive in the city today, Sept. 21./lzb
