7th cadet faces raps for PMA hazing death

Another cadet of the Philippine Military Academy ((PMA) has been tagged as a suspect in the fatal hazing of plebe Darwin Dormitorio, Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año said yesterday.

Año did not identify the cadet but said the seventh suspect can be considered as a principal in the case “since he directly participated in the hazing of Dormitorio.”

Sought for details, Baguio City police chief Col. Allen Rae Co said the latest person implicated in Dormitorio’s death is a third class cadet.

Co said the cadet, whom he did not identify, joined two other suspects earlier identified by the PMA – Cadets 3rd Class Felix Lumbag and Shalimar Imperial – in hazing Dormitorio about two weeks before the victim died from his injuries.

He said the three cadets tried to suffocate Dormitorio by placing a plastic bag over his head.

“The incident was only stopped when the first class cadet saw what was happening and intervened,” Co said.

While they have yet to establish the motive, Co said it is apparent that Dormitorio was being targeted by the same suspects for quite some time.

“We were able to establish that there is a pattern as these were the same cadets involved,” he said.

Co earlier said there was “evident premeditation to harm” Dormitorio that qualifies the offense to murder.

Cordillera regional police director Brig. Gen. Ephraim Dickson added the two physicians of the PMA’s Fort Del Pilar Station Hospital will also face charges for the death of Dormitorio.

He said cases of criminal negligence under Article 365 of the Revised Penal Code are being readied against the physicians who examined Dormitorio prior to the cadet’s death.

“We are looking at at least two doctors here,” he said.

Dickson did not identify the physicians pending the filing of charges against them. Previous news reports the doctors as Col. Cesar Candelaria, commanding officer of the PMA hospital, and Capt. Flor Apple Apostol. Both were placed under preventive suspension.

Police are expected to file charges for violating the anti-hazing law and possibly murder against the cadets involved in the fatal hazing of Dormitorio.

Three of the suspects assaulted the plebe on separate occasions the evening before he died, one of whom used a taser flashlight on the victim’s genitals, have yet to be identified.

It was Apostol who diagnosed Dormitorio as suffering from urinary tract infection (UTI) on Sept. 17 when he was brought to the hospital. The plebe was discharged the same day. He died the following day.

Co, for his part, scored the physicians as it was apparent they did not diligently examine Dormitorio’s medical condition.

“It raises questions as to whether all the medical tests or medical examination pass through them,”Co said over ABS-CBN.

According to Co, Dormitorio endured “hell” on the last day he was alive.

Based on their reconstruction of events, he said Dormitorio was maltreated in the morning after he lost the combat boots of one of the suspects, Cadet 1st Class Axl Rey Sanopao which was entrusted to him.

Dormitorio was ordered to do squat thrust but only managed to do five as he was already suffering from pains on the stomach. He then rested on the bed of a second class cadet, whom police have not yet identified, upon the instructions of Sanopao. When the owner of the bed saw him, he kicked the plebe several times.

Another unnamed upperclassmen kicked Dormitorio on the head after he was caught resting. Despite the injuries he suffered, the victim still joined the other activities of the cadets.

Dormitorio was electrocuted on his genitals by another upperclassman with a taser shortly after midnight.