Sacked PMA cadet presses SC on case

Cadet Aldrin Jeff Cudia. PHOTO FROM FACEBOOK

MANILA, Philippines—Dismissed Philippine Military Academy (PMA) cadet Aldrin Cudia has again asked the Supreme Court to resolve the case that he earlier filed questioning his dismissal from the military school eight months ago.

Cudia’s mother, Filipina, a petitioner-intervenor in the suit, has filed with the high court a manifestation with a second motion for an early resolution of the case.

In the Sept. 29 motion that she filed with the help of the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), Filipina said her son “remains in limbo,” adding that his transcript of records from the PMA still showed that he was on indefinite leave.

And since the PMA has refused to issue a certificate of honorable dismissal in Cudia’s favor despite his completion of all academic requirements, “his immediate employment or possible pursuance of higher education is nearly impossible,” Filipina said in her petition, which the PAO released to the media on Friday.

Filipina said she was going to the Supreme Court as it was “the ultimate defender of our constitutional rights and bulwark against oppression,” adding that the recourse to the high tribunal was “the plain, speedy and adequate remedy available” to them.

“[W]ithout any intent of compulsion and only in pursuance of the higher interest of justice, the petitioner-intervenor most respectfully pleads for the early resolution of the instant case. With every day that passes by [sic], the future of Cadet Cudia—an exceptional student who could very well be a valuable member of the Philippine Armed Forces—remains at a standstill,” she said.

Filipina also noted that the letter from the Office of the President dated June 11, 2014, which affirmed the findings against Cudia, was only signed by Executive Secretary Pacquito Ochoa and not by the authority of President Aquino, “thereby continuously placing Cadet Cudia’s fate hanging at their mercy.”

Sham trial

Filipina reiterated that her son was deprived of his right to have access to evidence that would have helped him defend himself from the accusation that he lied about the reason why he was late to class; that he was “vaguely informed” about the decisions of the honor committee that investigated the alleged dishonesty; that he was subjected to a sham trial; and that the honors committee, the Cadet Review and Appeals Board (CRAB) and the PMA had violated their own rules.

The Office of the Solicitor General, representing the PMA, sought for the dismissal of Cudia’s suit claiming, among other things, that the issue was already moot since graduation was over, that the Supreme Court was not a trier of facts, and that the PMA enjoyed academic freedom which authorized it to impose the disciplinary measures and punishment it deemed fit.

The Office of the President announced last July that it was sustaining the decision of the CRAB and the Armed Forces of the Philippines to dismiss Cudia for dishonesty.

Last February, the PMA honors committee found Cudia guilty of dishonesty, a violation of the academy’s honor code, and barred him from attending the academy’s graduation rites. A controversy ensued after it was revealed that the committee was not unanimous in its verdict and therefore could not have validly ordered Cudia’s dismissal under the academy’s rules.

Cudia, a native of Arayat, Pampanga, would have graduated as the salutatorian of his class “Siklab Diwa.”

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