Top PMA cadet fights dismissal

MANILA, Philippines - First Class Cadet Aldrin Jeff Cudia was all set to graduate next month as No. 2 in his class at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) in Baguio City.

Now he is fighting an order for his dismissal from the premier military school for reportedly violating the academy’s Honor Code.

His offense: lying about why he was two minutes late for class.

Read related: PMA defends decision to dismiss tardy cadet

Neither the PMA nor the military leadership would comment on Cudia’s dismissal since his case is being re-investigated on orders of Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Emmanuel Bautista.

“A reinvestigation is currently being conducted,” said AFP Public Affairs Office chief Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala.

Cudia is currently staying at the PMA holding center as he fights his dismissal from the academy.

The PMA Honor Committee found him guilty of violating the Honor Code, a time-honored military tradition observed and enforced by the cadets themselves – that cadets don’t lie, don’t cheat and don’t steal or tolerate the same.

The Honor Committee is composed of cadets and cadettes representing their respective classes in the academy.

Cudia reportedly came to class two minutes late and was meted the penalty of 11 demerits and 13 hours of “touring,” which he reportedly complied with under appeal because he claimed his being late was not of his own doing.

Cudia told his sister Annavee that while he got 11 demerits and 13 hours of touring as penalty for being late, his classmates only got eight demerits and eight hours of touring as penalty from their tactical officer, whom he did not name.

Touring means that a penalized cadet or cadette is required to run the number of hours as stipulated in the penalty inside the compound of the academy. Demerits are automatically reflected in their military files.

Annavee has brought her brother’s case to social media, appealing to the public as well as government leadership for help.

Cudia, of Arayat, Pampanga, is slated to join the Philippine Navy (PN) as top Navy cadet and is number two out of the 207 PMA cadets and cadettes that are graduating next month.

The class also picked Cudia as their deputy baron.

“The government is spending at least P2 million for each cadet. Why is it that my brother, who is graduating No. 2 and deputy baron of his class, is being driven out of the academy after simply coming in two minutes late for his class,” Annavee lamented.

She also decried that while being held at the PMA holding center, her brother, a former accountancy scholar at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) before joining the academy, has not been allowed to have visitors, including his classmates and even the PMA chaplain.

She surmised that her brother could have incurred the ire of his tactical officer and members of the PMA Honor Committee when he appealed his penalty for being late, after the professor from a previous class supposedly asked the cadets and cadettes to stay for a while because he was giving them some papers.

But the PMA Honor Committee found Cudia, according to Annavee, to have lied because instead of saying that they were made to wait in their previous class, he said that their professor dismissed them late.

On the other hand, several Camp Aguinaldo officials who are PMA graduates said there could be some other serious reason why Cudia was found to have violated the Honor Code and dismissed from the academy.