INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—There’s a Cadet Aldrin Jeff Cudia in the country’s premier police academy, too.
In fact, two senior cadets of the Philippine National Police Academy have been dropped from the rolls of PNPA “Mandilaab” Class of 2014 for violating the honor code.
President Benigno Aquino III is set to deliver the keynote address and lead the commissioning of the 202-member class during the PNPA’s commencement exercises at Camp Mariano Castañeda in Silang, Cavite, Monday.
Chief Supt. Noel Constantino, PNPA director, on Sunday said one of the cadets was dismissed in December for maltreating a plebe while the other was found guilty of cheating in exams during the first semester.
“The graduating cadet punched a plebe in the stomach. The injury was so serious the cadet had to be hospitalized,” Constantino told the
Inquirer.
Like Cudia, who was put in the spotlight after he questioned the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) honor committee’s decision dismissing him for coming late to a class by two minutes, the police cadet has appealed his case with the PNPA honor committee.
But unlike Cudia, who lost his appeal, the police cadet’s case remains pending.
“It’s really unfortunate, but we have to abide by the PNPA’s own honor code,” Constantino said.
“I just hope the core values of justice, integrity and service that they learned at the academy will guide them in their lives as they leave it,” he said.
If PMA cadets uphold their honor code, which states, “We cadets do not lie, cheat, steal nor tolerate among us those who do,” PNPA cadets swear to live by their own honor code, “On my honor, I will uphold the truth in words and in deeds at all times.”
Medical conditions
Of the 202 members of the graduating class, 183 have been admitted to the PNP, 10 to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), while the rest will join the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).
But what baffled Constantino, a member of PMA Class of 1984, was the case of three cadets who were disqualified from joining the graduating class due to medical conditions.
He said one of the cadets was suffering from White Parkinson syndrome, a rare heart condition which causes one to experience a rapid heartbeat, while the other was diagnosed to be color blind.
Another one was afflicted with tuberculosis and had to complete a six-month medication course before he could undergo reevaluation at Camp Crame, Constantino said.
“We only discovered their condition when they underwent medical examinations at Camp Crame as a requirement for their commissioning as police officers,” Constantino said.
“They will be allowed to graduate, but they cannot be commissioned as PNP officers because they failed the medical examination,” he added.
Two other members of the graduating class would have to wait for nearly a month before their commissioning for their failure to meet the minimum age requirement of 21 years for police officers.
“I believe that with the reforms we have implemented in the academy, we will be able to produce high-caliber public safety officers,” Constantino said.
Name out of diplomas
On the eve of graduation day, however, the president of the Philippine Public Safety College (PPSC) accused PNPA director Constantino of violating the law by removing the PPSC head as a signatory on the PNPA diploma.
PPSC president Ruben Platon said he was informed his name was removed from the list of those who will confer academic degrees on the 202 graduating cadets, and he was left out of the signatories on the diplomas of the graduating cadets.
Officials of the PPSC, which supervises the academy and the training centers, called the move of the PNPA officials disregarding their authority “unprecedented and in violation of existing laws.”
In a March 26 memorandum to Constantino, Platon warned that stripping the PPSC of its authority to confer the academic degrees and sign the diplomas had serious consequences.
“I would like to remind PNPA officials and all concerned that these are not only contrary to law but are, emphatically, also prejudicial to the members of the 2014 graduating class of the Academy,” he said.
“Later on these graduates will be appointed as officers of the PNP, BJMP and BFP. Without us conferring the degrees and signing the diplomas, their graduation might be questioned by the Civil Service (Commission),” Platon said in a phone interview.
Platon noted that the power of the PPSC president to grant degrees to the graduates was clearly stated in the PPSC Operations Manual.
“Since the PPSC was activated in 1993 and consequently assumed control and supervision of the PNPA, the PPSC president, in the exercise of his authority, had been signing, used to signing and consistently signing the diplomas of the PNPA graduates from 1994 up to the present,” he said.
Before 1993 when the PNPA was under the defunct Integrated National Police (INP), the INP director general and the PNPA superintendent were the signatories on the PNPA diplomas.
In his letter, Platon said the actions of the PNPA officials pertaining to the diplomas might expose them to “possible administrative and criminal charges,” adding their actions could be “tantamount to usurpation of public function.”
“The same also could be construed as grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess jurisdiction,” Platon said.
Constantino refused to comment on Platon’s complaint.
Creating an issue
“May I suggest you first wait for the PNPA graduation day and then ask questions regarding the diplomas of the graduating cadets. With due respect to you and the Inquirer, you may be creating an issue where there may be no issue after all,” Constantino said in a text message to the Inquirer.
Platon and Constantino have for some time been involved in a power struggle at the police academy.
Late last year, Platon sacked Constantino. But the PNP leadership backed Constantino, who claimed he was sacked because he had been exposing corrupt practices at the school.
President Aquino reinstated Constantino and ordered him to continue investigating the alleged corruption.
Immediately after he was reinstated, Constantino ordered the closure of 17 business concessionaires illegally operating inside the police academy.
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