MANILA, Philippines — Filipino taxpayers spend almost P3 million to produce one Philippine Military Academy graduate, a Senate leader said as he called on authorities to relentlessly pursue justice over the death of a cadet.
In a statement Tuesday, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto stressed that students of the country’s premier military institution are also taxpayers’ scholars and that the government spends more for their education and training than it does on a University of the Philippines student.
“It is six times more expensive to produce one commissioned officer out of The Long Gray Line in Baguio than to produce one scientist out of the picket lines of Diliman,” he said.
According to Recto, former chair of the Ways and Means committee, the cost of producing one PMA graduate is approximately P2.982 million. The country, meanwhile, spends P507,000 to produce a UP graduate of a four-year course.
Upon admission to the Cadet Corps, aspiring military officers will be able to avail of a free college education and receive monthly pay and allowance. Once the cadets graduate from PMA, they will become officers in the Army, Navy or Air Force.
“As such, PMA cadets are ‘the people’s investments,’ to whom the defense of the republic will later be entrusted. Every one of them is important,” Recto said.
He added: “If they will have to drop out, then it must be on their own steam, and not on a stretcher out of a hospital or morgue.”
Darwin Dormitorio, a fourth class cadet, died on September 18 due to injuries caused by hazing. The PMA admitted it was “blunt force trauma” that caused the death of the 20-year-old plebe.
Citing command responsibility, PMA superintendent Lt. Gen. Ronnie Evangelista and commandant of cadets Brig. Gen. Bartolome Bacarro announced they have stepped down from their posts Tuesday.
Four cadets were dismissed, while two were suspended.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines on Monday said that two more PMA cadets were admitted to hospital after suffering from suspected “maltreatment.”