‘Don’t allow entry of suspects in my son’s slay into the PMA’

BAGUIO CITY — "Mrs. President, please do not allow the entry into the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) of any of the UST ROTC cadets involved in my son’s murder and in other criminal activities."

This, in short, was the plea of Wilson Chua, father of slain University of Santo Tomas ROTC cadet Mark Welson Chua, to President Arroyo who spent the weekend at the Mansion House here.

In a three-page letter, Chua asked the President to "direct the PMA to expel" ROTC cadet officers Eduardo Tabrilla, Franco Salvador Suello and Arnulfo Aparri who are presently enrolled (at the academy)."

Chua also urged the President to direct the PMA, headed by Maj. Gen. Rufo de Vera, to "prevent" the entry of Paul Joseph Tan, Michael Von Rainard Manangbao and Patrick Christopher Cruz into the academy.

Chua said these ROTC cadets, if accepted by the PMA, "will only become the scalawags that plagued (sic) our institutions that serve and protect us."

PMA records, however, show that Suello and Aparri have just passed the latest PMA entrance examinations for entry next year.

While Suello and Aparri are not among the four ROTC cadets who, Philippine National Police chief Director General Leandro Mendoza said, have been charged for Mark Welson Chua’s murder, they and five others are being investigated for their alleged involvement in kidnap-for-ransom activities within the UST ROTC.

Facing charges for the murder, which the National Bureau of Investigation has filed, are Manangbao, Tabrilla, Cruz and Tan. The President has ordered Mendoza to immediately obtain hold departure orders for them.

The four accused, however, are not in the roster of PMA cadets, according to Col. Ben Dolorfino, PMA commandant of cadets.

Neither were they among the 20,111 applicants who took the PMA entrance examinations in 33 testing centers nationwide last Aug. 26, according to Jenny Madrid of Dolorfino’s office. Only 1,166 examinees passed.