AFP chief Lt. Gen. Noel Clement
MANILA, Philippines — Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Lt. Gen. Noel Clement brushed aside calls for suspension of recruitment at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) amid reports of other alleged maltreatment cases that were discovered only after the hazing death of freshman cadet Darwin Dormitorio.
“If we stop the recruitment of cadets for the PMA, it’s going to affect the profile of the armed forces in as far as all our officers are concerned. PMA produces the biggest bulk of the junior officers that we have,” he said in a statement on Friday.
Ako Bicol Rep. Alfredo Garbin Jr. on Wednesday asked the top military school to temporarily stop its recruitment for at least a year in response to the AFP inspector general’s report that PMA is investigating at least 27 more cases of alleged hazing.
READ: AFP report: PMA probes at least 27 more cases of ‘maltreatment’
The findings were part of the investigation conducted by the General Headquarters shortly after Dormitorio’s death. It was concluded in late September.
The internal military report seen by INQUIRER.net, indicated that 52 cadets have been confined in a holding area in connection with the 27 cases documented between Sept. 16 and 27.
“Halting the recruitment of PMA is a very drastic move. We have to sit down and think about all of these measures before we even consider implementing them,” Clement said.
“The incidents that we have identified in the past are all being investigated. We have already identified cadets that have been involved and the appropriate cases or punishments are starting to be implemented already,” he added.
Dormitorio died on September 18 from severe beatings of his upperclassmen. Seven senior cadets, two tactical officers, and three military doctors have been charged in connection with his death.
The embattled military school became the center of attention again after videos of hazing at the PMA, which took place in 2017 and 2018, circulated on social media early this week. Five of the cadets involved in beatings of the four plebes have been detained as a result.
“What the cadets were doing in the videos was totally wrong, even more, is them documenting it through video. It manifests that there is something wrong in their individual thinking,” Clement said.
He admitted that hazing incidents indeed happen in the academy and now they are doing their best to address the root causes of it.
The military school has launched an institution-wide review of its policies and initiated short and long-term reforms after Dormitorio’s death to prevent it from happening again.
“The PMA is not a perfect organization and we have to be dynamic about how we implement programs to be able to produce good future leaders without having to undergo maltreatment or other wrong practices in the academy,” Clement said.
“When you join a military organization, you are not entering a regular university or college; you are entering a military school….They are being prepared to handle weapons to fight the enemy of the state; they are being trained practically to kill and to fight so they have to be tough to be able to handle these situations,” he added.
But he said they have also stopped some traditions that they think are possible causes of maltreatment.
“We are now encouraging cadets to instead of giving physical punishments in terms of physical contact, they give more exercises to the plebes to help develop their physical profile. The measures that we have put in place are enough at the moment while we continue to implement long-term measures to prevent similar cases from happening,” the AFP chief said. /kga