Dormitorio kin cries foul over selective justice
BAGUIO CITY: The family of hazing victim Cdt. 4th Class Darwin Dormitorio is “dissatisfied” with the decision of the Baguio City Prosecutor’s Office to absolve the Philippine Military Academy’s ( PMA) key officers because of lack of probable cause.
“Our family is dissatisfied because the Anti-Hazing [Act] of 2018 was only selectively and partially applied,” Dormitorio’s father, retired Col. William Dormitorio, said in an interview through their legal counsel Jose Adrian Bonifacio.
The Dormitorio patriarch said: “Although we are relieved that after nine months, a resolution has finally been made and grateful that the prosecutors concurred with our position regarding the Anti-Hazing law being applicable in PMA, we feel like we are already being deprived of it.”
The prosecutors found probable cause to file charges of hazing, murder and physical injuries against the suspects, including four PMA cadets and three doctors.
But resigned officials of the Baguiobased institution — former PMA superintendent Lt. Gen. Ronnie Evangelista and former PMA commandant of cadets Brig. Gen. Bartolome Vicente Bacarro — were cleared. The prosecution also dismissed the case against two other PMA officials and three cadets.
“Our enemy is hazing and not the institution. We are grateful for the public’s help in pursuing the case to attain justice for our son. Please continue to support and pray for us in our battle against hazing,” the retired colonel said.
He added that they were still reviewing the resolution and would consider all possible legal options to obtain justice for his late son.
Evangelista and Bacarro were sued by the Dormitorios for hazing, torture and dereliction of duty.
Dexter Dormitorio, older brother of Darwin, earlier said before state prosecutors that Evangelista and Bacarro should be indicted as accomplices in violating the Anti- Hazing Law, though principals in the Anti- Torture Law and should, likewise, answer for dereliction of duty as defined by Article 208 of the Revised Penal Code.
Bonifacio said the elder Dormitorio’s complaint was based on the case earlier filed by the National Bureau of Investigation ( NBI)- Cordillera against Evangelista and Bacarro.
Investigators at the NBI found Evangelista and Bacarro did nothing to avert the fourth class cadet’s eventual death.
Before the cases were filed against Evangelista and Bacarro, the Dormitorios filed hazing, torture and murder against Cdt. 1st Class Axl Rey Sanupao, Cdt. 2nd Class Christian Zacarias, and Cdts. 3rd Class Rey David John Volante, Julius Carlo Tadena, John Vincent Manalo, Felix Lumbag Jr. and Shalimar Imperial.
But in a 62- page resolution Wednesday afternoon, the Baguio City Prosecutor’s Office indicted Imperial Jr., Lumbag Jr., Capt. Flor Apple Apostol, Major Maria Ofelia Beloy and Lt. Col. Ceasar Candelaria ( all of the PMA Hospital) for murder while former cadets Tadena has been indicted for less serious physical injuries and Zacarias for slight physical injuries.
PMA spokesman Maj. Cheryl Tindog has not responded to queries of how the academy is reacting with the development on the Dormitorio hazingdeath that rocked the premier military training institution.