PMA hazing casualty had big dreams for the country

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Darwin Dormitorio entered the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) last July as a plebe carrying big dreams of helping reform the nation.

“One time she told me, just wait, bae, when I become a soldier. I will change the Philippines,” Dormitorio’s girlfriend, Ashely Ravida, told family, friends and relatives who gathered for an internment prayer service at the Cagayan de Oro Gardens in Barangay Lumbia  here.

Darwin Dormitorio (Photo from his Facebook account)

But just when he was adjusting to life in the elite military academy, the ugly head and ills of hazing snuffed out Darwin’s patriotic goals.

He was laid to rest Wednesday morning.

Ravida had requested the Dormitorio family not to cremate Darwin’s remains so she can see him one last time.

“The initial plan was to cremate him because we could not bear looking at him with all the pain that he had gone through. But the family’s decision changed because of Ashely,” said Dexter, Dormitorio’s older brother.

Dexter described his brother as the family’s “lucky charm,” saying things got better for the Dormitorios when Darwin came into their life.

In his eulogy, Dexter said their family welcomed the recent shakeup in the academy as a result of the incident.

On Tuesday, PMA Superintendent Lt. Gen. Ronnie Evangelista quit his post on account of command responsibility.

Several other officials and upper class cadets have also been meted sanctions.

Earlier, the Dormitorio family asked the PMA administration to let Darwin be the last victim of hazing in the country’s premier military school.

On his death by hazing, Dexter said: “You won because they were not able to break you. They were not able to take your dignity from you. You died fighting.”

Dormitorio’s death due to haing, the first in 18 years in the PMA, has become the symbol of the call for ending the practice of inflicting pain and humiliation among plebes.

In a message, Jane Año, wife of Interior Sec. Eduardo Año, said her husband promised “there will be no whitewash, no sacred cows” in the effort to ferret out the truth of the incident.

“We all care for the plebes. We care for the institution, but we don’t want maltreatment (at the PMA),” she said. /gsg