Brewing tempest at PMA: Top DND exec ‘intervened’ in cadet’s Honor Code issue

THE controversy surrounding the case of a cadet of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) has thickened, with students and alumni of the country’s premier military school calling on the Philippine Military Academy Alumni Association Inc. (PMAAAI) to do something and “save” the institution.

This developed as a “top defense official” reportedly “intervened” in the case of Cadet 3rd Class (second year) Desemoore Guillermo, who was supposed to have left the academy “voluntarily” for violating the Honor Code, the timehonored and sacred covenant among the cadets of one of Asia’s foremost military schools.

Sources said that the defense official reportedly sent a message to PMA Superintendent Vice Admiral Allan Ferdinand Cusi to “look” into the case of Guillermo, who was supposed to have left the PMA this month after a Board of Senior Officers had recommended for her dismissal as a consequence of the Honor Code violation.

Guillermo reportedly stole five pieces of grapes from the refrigerator of the “First Class Club,” the club exclusively owned by the 1st class cadets, or the graduating class of the PMA, in violation of the code, which says that a cadet “do not steal, cheat and lie or tolerate those among us who do.”

While Guillermo reportedly admitted her guilt and submitted her resignation in preparation for her exit from the PMA, her case reached Cusi which created a board composed of senior officers, which eventually recommended her dismissal.

However, when the decision reached Cusi, the PMA head, reportedly issued an order on July 7 that meted Guillermo only with 51 demerits, 180 hours punishment tours and 180 confinement days inside barracks “effective July 2020,” instead of a dismissal, or resignation.

One of the sources said that the defense official’s order to look into the case of the cadet influenced the decision, since he and other graduates of the academy believed that it was an “implied order” for Cusi to reverse the recommendation.

Reports said that the defense official’s wife is a friend of Guillermo’s aunt.

Cusi’s decision over the code’s violation raised a howl from the cadet corps and even from alumni of the academy, with one retired general, saying it has shocked “everybody.”

“This greatly demoralized not only the Cadet Corps, but also the PMA Officer Corps, especially the Peemayers for what they considered a grave mistake committed by the Superintendent. This is very sad because this has serious implications to both the cadets and alumni,” the general earlier said.

Graduates of the academy fear that those who have been forced to resign from the PMA for violation of the code will use Cusi’s decision as a precedent in appealing their cases, which the retired general said was snowballing.

The “deplorable” action of Cusi has “caused a lot of grumbling and restiveness among the cadet corps and alumni,” the retired general said as he pushed for the collective call that it be “rectified soonest so as not to set a bad precedent.”

“If not corrected or rectified, it is feared that this would surely open a wide door for more honor violations. It is also grossly unfair and unjust for those former cadets who have resigned/dismissed due to honor violations,” he said.