Dismissed cadet turns tables on PMA jury
Cadet First Class Aldrin Jeff Cudia. Photo from Facebook
BAGUIO CITY, Philippines—Cadet First Class Aldrin Jeff Cudia has turned the tables on the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) cadets, who found him guilty of lying and recommended his dismissal a few weeks before his graduation from the academy.
The beleaguered cadet accused them of violating the Honor Code shortly before his sister revealed his predicament over social media on Feb. 18.
Cudia submitted an “honor report” containing his grievances against nine voting members of the honor committee, which found him guilty of a major Honor Code violation, said Maj. Agnes Lynette Flores, PMA spokesperson, on Friday.
Flores did not reveal the contents of Cudia’s report.
Because the report had been transmitted officially, his complaint would now be investigated and may go to trial before the graduation of PMA “Siklab Diwa” Class of 2014 on March 16, the Inquirer learned.
PMA cadets and alumni submit to the Honor Code through this pledge: “We, the cadets, do not lie, cheat, steal, nor tolerate among us those who do so.”
Violations of the code are filed in an honor report, which is investigated immediately by the honor committee, composed of 25 cadets who represent the academy’s multiple class levels, Flores said.
But only nine cadets are eligible to vote on a cadet’s innocence or guilt. Six of them belong to the first class or senior cadets, to which Cudia belongs, while the three other cadets are second class men (the equivalent of third year university students).
Flores said the honor committee could address Cudia’s complaint side by side with a review of his case, which Maj. Gen. Oscar Lopez, the PMA superintendent who was installed during the Feb. 15 PMA alumni homecoming, will undertake.
Lopez was tasked to re-evaluate Cudia’s case after the cadet’s sister, Avee, posted details of his troubles.
Cudia, the third in the family’s brood of four, turned 22 years old on Feb. 12, but it was unlikely he had time to celebrate.
Avee complained in her Feb. 18 post over Facebook that her brother was punished with demerits for being 2 minutes late to a class.
The cadets initiated the honor committee investigation because of discrepancies in Cudia’s explanation to justify his tardiness, which opened up a charge of lying. The committee voted unanimously and found Cudia guilty, according to PMA officials.
He was placed on indefinite leave from military service on Feb. 10, after the cadet was administratively separated from the PMA when retired Vice Admiral Edgardo Abogado, Lopez’s predecessor, approved the honor committee’s recommendation to discharge Cudia.
“This means that Cudia at the moment does not belong to the graduating class because he was administratively separated from PMA,” Flores said.
Cudia was running for honors as class salutatorian “because all cadets get a sense of where they stand based on their grades and accomplishments,” Flores said.
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