Fix ‘tarnished’ image, PMA told
Dormitorio kin want end to violence in academy; poll data may help cops probing fatal hazing
BAGUIO CITY—THE police have requested access to t he digital information on slain cadet Darwi nd ormitorio , who registered as a new Baguio voter five days befor e he die do n Sept. 18 f rom severe beatings from senior cadet sa tt he Philippine Military Academy (PMA).
The request has been sen tto the Manila office of t he C ommission on Elections (Comelec) “for purposes of the ongoing investigation,” said lawyer John Martin, Baguio election officer.
Martin did not give details abou tt he request and said he could not validate reports that the photographs an dot her biometric information submitted byd ormitorio, as well as other cadet s, m igh tr eveal signs of bruising. Voters’ information ar es trict lyc onfidential, he said.
Dormitorio was among the 942 cadet san d soldiers assigned at Fort Del Pilar her ewh or egistered asv oters in a special offsit el isti nga tt he PMA.
‘Complicated case’
On Thursday, Dormitorio’s brother, Dexter ,pa rticipate din a case conference regarding the criminal complaints to bef iled against seven PMA cadets in connectio nw ith the fatal hazing. Among them wer eca det 1st Class Axl Rey Sanopao and Cadet 2nd
Zacarias.
Bu tt hec omplaints against Sanopao, Zacarias and Cadets 3rd Class Felix Lumbag Jr., Shalimar Imperial, Jo hn V incent Manalo, Julius Carlo Tadena and Rey David John Volante have ye tto be transmitte d to t he Baguio prosecutor’s office.
“We wan t to complete the paper work. We wan t it to be complete. We wan tto submit an airtight complaint,” Dexter said, after a two-hour closed door meeting between hi sc ounsel, Jo se A dri an B onifacio , an dt he lawyers of the Baguio police and the PMA.
Bonifacio would not discuss wha tt he lawyer sw ould file agains tt he cadets, but Police Col. Allan Rae Co, Baguio police director , sa id hazing charges wer e“s till on the table.” “We wan tt he p roper charges be well defined . We don’t wan tt hese to be dismisse do utright .I t ’s a ve r yc omplicated case. We nee dto piece together all the angles ... But certainly we wi ll f ile t he c omplaint a tt he soonest ,” B onifacio said.
Reforms
Dexter said his family was also concerned abou tt he impac tof Dormitorio’s death on the PMA. Their father ,W illiam, a retired Ar myc olonel, is a membe ro f the PMA
“Marangal” Class of 1974.
“We also want to repair the reputation of the academy since it was tarnished,” Dexter told reporters here.
But their mother wanted reforms to end hazing in the academy, he said, adding that, “We want an end to violence which is used [as an instrument in] teaching discipline.”
Bonifacio said: “The basis in drafting the complaint will be based on the sworn statements gathered by the police.”
Since August
Fourteen cadets and two soldiers testified that Dormitorio had been maltreated as far back as August since he joined the PMA in June as a member of Class of 2023.
Several cadets said Dormitorio was punched and kicked by Lumbag and Imperial for 20 minutes on Aug. 19, for spending half of his P4,000 allowance. The beatings landed him at the PMA Hospital where he was confined for eight days.
A week before the Comelec set up its online voters’ registration at the academy, the plebe was returned to the hospital on Sept. 6 for soft tissue contusions in the chest as well as for respiratory tract infection. But his roommates said he was treated for a swollen jaw and a toothache.
On Sept. 14, Lumbag, Imperial and Manalo tried to suffocate the plebe with a plastic coating of a cadet dress cap. Dormitorio was again taken to the hospital on Sept. 17, after another beating but was discharged and given medicine for urinary tract infection.
He was beaten again and tasered, along with a classmate. After vomiting at dawn on Sept. 18, Dormitorio was found unconscious and was taken to the hospital where he died.