PMA exec: maltreatment of plebes ‘spur of moment’ acts

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — An official of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) said cases of hazing and maltreatment in the country’s premier military school are “spur of the moment” incidents and not part of a planned regimen that cadets have to undergo as part of training.

Col. Claro Unson, PMA deputy dean of academics, belie claims there is a prevailing “culture of retaliation” among the PMA’s senior students who were subjected to maltreatment when they were plebes, hence kept the tradition of hazing in the academy.

“As far as we are concerned, it (hazing) is not happening in our sight since these acts are conducted behind our backs. These are done in secret,” Unson said.

Unson represented the PMA at the interment rites Wednesday for Cadet 4th Class Darwin Dormitorio who died of hazing on Sept. 18.

“Actually, most of the cases (of maltreatment) were not planned, maybe these are spur of the moment. This could be due to orders that were not complied, duties that have not been attended to,” Unson said.

“But it has never been allowed,” Unson added.

Calls

Dormitorio’s death, the first inside the PMA in 18 years, had precipitated calls to end, for good, its tradition of inflicting pain and humiliation on plebes as part of an initiation process.

Critics, among them Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, said the cruelty and violence do not make good soldiers out of the cadets.

Unson explained that the PMA has a thousand cadets managed by 50 tactical officers, and these officials could not keep tabs of the movements of all the students inside the academy.

“They usually do these acts when no one is watching,” he said.

Unson said one of their interventions is to remind the cadets and tactical officers about the anti-hazing law.

Refuting Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa’s view that his PMA hazing ordeal made him what he is today, Unson said: “It is against the law; it should not be done.”

Failure

He, however, admitted that the PMA administration fell short in efforts to implement the anti-hazing law inside the academy.

He added that the new version of the anti-hazing law, or Republic Act 11053, is enough to deter upperclass cadets who may want to inflict physical pain on plebes.

Under RA 11053, those who are guilty of perpetrating hazing can be meted up to life imprisonment and made to pay P3 million in penalty.

Unson has said that Dormitorio’s death serves as the “rallying point for change” in the academy in terms of treating cadets.

He assured those who want to enroll in the PMA that by the time they enter the school, the actions taken at present would already have taken effect, and the outcome of those actions would have already been felt./lzb