New PMA officials named; taser used in hazing

MANILA, Philippines — Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Lt. Gen. Noel Clement designated yesterday Rear Admiral Allan Cusi as superintendent of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), in place of resigned Lt. Gen. Ronnie Evangelista following the hazing that killed Cadet Fourth Class Darwin Dormitorio last week.

Cusi will assume next week the top PMA post vacated by Evangelista who resigned along with Brig. Gen. Bartolome Bacarro, the commandant of cadets, last Tuesday for command responsibility following the death of Dormitorio.

Clement also designated Brig. Gen. Romeo Brawner, former commander of the Marawi-based 103rd Brigade, as Bacarro’s replacement as commandant of cadets.

“We will be installing Brig. Gen. Brawner as acting commandant of cadets this afternoon (yesterday afternoon) and next week, we will install Rear Admiral Cusi as the acting superintendent,” said Clement at his first media briefing in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.

Lt. Col. Nerio Zabala was also designated as officer-in-charge of the PMA Station Hospital, vice Col. Cesar Candelaria, who was suspended along with Capt. Flor Apple Apostol over Dormitorio’s death.

The PMA Station Hospital, under Candelaria and Apostol, had attended to Dormitorio’s complaints of stomach pain, but which was diagnosed as simple urinary tract infection.

On Wednesday last week, Dormitorio was found unconscious at their barracks and died at the PMA hospital due to internal bleeding that resulted from the maltreatment inflicted by his upperclassmen.

Police investigators have tagged two more PMA cadets as suspects in the hazing incidents that rocked the premier military learning institution.

Baguio City police director Col. Allen Rae Co refused to identify the new suspects, both third class cadets, who directly participated in the hazing of Dormitorio on separate occasions.

Two other suspects – Cadets Third Class Shalimar Imperial and Felix Lumbag, squadmates of Dormitorio, and Cadet First Class Axl Ray Sanupao, who reportedly encouraged the maltreatment – were dismissed from the PMA as part of administrative sanctions and now face criminal charges of violations of the anti-hazing law in a civilian court.

Earlier reports indicated that Dormitorio, who succumbed to hemorrhage early morning on Sept. 18, had been hospitalized twice in August.  

Co said the two new suspects allegedly maltreated Dormitorio last Sept 17, the same day the victim was beaten up by Imperial, Lumbag and Sanupao.

The incident happened sometime in the evening when the suspects also electrocuted Dormitorio on his genitals using a taser flashlight.

Co said the victim was beaten up after he apparently lost a pair of combat boots entrusted to him by Sanupao.

Sanupao was irked when he could not find the boots and he asked Imperial and Lumbag to “punish” Dormitorio.

Bagong Henerasyon party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera called on the Department of National Defense (DND) to detain identified suspects in the fatal hazing of Dormitorio.

Herrera, principal author of Republic Act 11053 (Anti-Hazing Law) in Congress, asked the DND to place all suspects under its restrictive custody pending criminal investigation and proceedings on the case.

“Considering that the investigation at the PMA is still in progress and more suspects are being identified, I ask that the DND order the PMA to keep all the suspects in custody at the stockade for now,” she told reporters at a press conference in the House of Representatives.

Once the probe is finished, the lawmaker urged DND to turn over all suspects to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) where they should be detained.

Meanwhile, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) said that it had also started an investigation on the alleged hazing that killed Dormitorio.

Jacqueline Ann de Guia, CHR spokesperson, said the commission’s Cordillera Administrative Region office started an investigation as soon as news broke out on Dormitorio’s death.

De Guia said the CHR National Capital Region Office also joined the investigation when the reported injury of some other cadets came out in media and they learned that some of the injured are in Metro Manila.

“The regional office secured affidavits and coordinated with the victims here in Manila,” De Guia told The STAR.

De Guia said the probe on the alleged hazing in the PMA was given “utmost priority.” – With Emmanuel Tupas, Edu Punay, Rainier Allan Ronda