Comatose PMA cadet walks; attacker still at large

HERO ON RECOVERY. PMA Cadet Alfonso Aviles is now back on his feet after falling into a coma and surviving several surgeries. Aviles was fatally shot by a lone gunman who held up a passenger jeepney in Fairview in August this year. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Military Academy cadet who nearly lost his life as he tried to thwart a robbery incident in Fairview, Quezon City late August is now back on his feet after two months of intensive care at Armed Forces of the Philippines Medical Center.

A medical report from the AFPMC said Cadet Alfonso Aviles is now on ambulatory stage and can now walk with a nurse’s assistance.

The senior cadet can also talk in short phrases and will require a titanium plate implant to reconstruct his jaw due to a mandibular fracture. He will also have to undergo physical rehabilitation three times a week to condition his body back to form.

“Cdt Aviles still has to be confined in the hospital because of the mandibular fracture and the physical rehabilitation he is undergoing. Our specialists and medical doctors are all-out in guiding Cdt Aviles all throughout the rehabilitation and recovery process,” Brigadier General Normando Sta. Ana,  Commander of AFPMC, said.

Aviles sustained two-gunshot wounds and fell on comatose for a week.

The cadet was on a passenger jeepney when an unidentified man declared holdup at the corner of Regalado Street and Mindanao Avenue in Greater Lagro village on August 25.The cadet tried to prevent the robbery and got shot in the neck and shoulder.

He was in Manila to serve as a proctor for the PMA entrance exams and was granted a “pass” by his officer-in-charge to visit his family in Bulacan and was on his way back to the billeting area when the incident happened.

The doctors are also still waiting for a bullet on his shoulder to surface, although they assured that Aviles is much closer to full recovery.

The unidentified attacker is still on the loose.