Cudia’s mother asks SC to admit CHR final report on son’s case

Former Philippine Military Academy Cadet 1st Class Jeff Aldrin Cudia is greeted by and given advice by Commission on Human Rights (CHR) chairperson Loretta Ann “Etta” Rosales. LYN RILLON/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–The mother of Philippine Military Academy (PMA) First Class Cadet Aldrin Jeff Cudia on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to admit the final investigation report of the Commission on Human Rights, which among others, said that the cadet’s right to due process was violated.

In a 12-page manifestation with motion to admit the report, Filipina Cudia said the CHR’s final report dated April 25, 2014 showed that his son was not only deprived of his right when his case was investigated, but that the members of the investigation team were biased against him.

Public Attorney’s Office chief Persida Rueda-Acosta accompanied Mrs. Cudia and her son in filing the motion.

“Cadet First Class Aldrin Jeff Cudia was given nothing but a sham trial, as members of the investigation team were undoubtedly biased and have respective conflicts of interests against him,” the motion stated quoting part of the CHR’s findings.

The motion also said Major Dennis Hindang, Cudia’s tactical officer, was remiss in his responsibility as a “good father of cadets, in this case, to Cadet Cudia.”

Aside from Hindang, the motion said Cadet’s Honor Committee, Cadet First Class Mike Anthony Mogol, was “bent on pinning down and determined to destroy Cudia, for reasons of his own.”

The motion also said that another member of the Honor Committee Cadet First Class Noel Raguindin has vested interest in the outcome of the case since he ranks second to the latter in the naval first class cadets.

“Cadet 1CL Raguindin should have inhibited himself from the preliminary investigation. Neither did the committee see it appropriate for Cadet Raguindin to inhibit, even for delicadeza. This fact has cast doubt and tainted the process in the PMA justice system even at the preliminary investigation stage,” it added.

Raguindin, however, graduated Number 5 of the PMA Siklab Diwa Class of 2014 last March.

The motion further noted that the  Honor Committee violated the Honor Code when it refused to accept the not guilty verdict on Cudia when only eight out of the nine of its members voted against him making him eligible for a verdict of acquittal.

Cudia’s motion explained that the Honor Code expressly provides a unanimous vote or nine votes of guilty before rendering a guilty decision for violating the Honor Code.

It noted that Cadet First Class Dalton John Lagura was “pressured” into changing his vote to secure the guilty conviction.

“The Honor Committee made a mockery of the law on due process. Thus, the trial of Cadet Cudia by the Committee was a sham. The Honor Committee, with intent and ill motives, violated the human rights of Cadet Cudia to due process, to education, to dignity, and thereby transgressing even his right to life,” the motion said also quoting the CHR report.

Cudia’s mother also said that the Honor Committee members and the Cadet Review and Appeals Board (CRAB) cheated when they refused to cooperate with the CHR in its quest to ascertain the truth in the case aside from deliberately withholding the minutes of the Honor Committee proceedings.

She also said that the CHR’s report found her son not guilty of lying nor did he intend to lie.

“Neither can it be drawn from his actions and/ or explanations that he had the intention to produce unfair advantage over another,” it added.

Cudia was found guilty of lying about his reason for being late in a class. He was not able to join his classmates of the Siklab Diwa class during their graduation rites last March 16 due to his case.

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