EDITORIAL - Honor code

With graduation day approaching, the Armed Forces of the Philippines is reportedly reviewing the dismissal of a cadet for violating the honor code in the Philippine Military Academy. Cadet 1st Class Aldrin Jeff Cudia is supposed to graduate as the No. 2 in his class. Now he instead faces dismissal, according to reports, for lying about the reason for being two minutes late for one of his classes.

The penalty, if implemented, strikes many as harsh. At the same time, however, people also hope that adherence to a military code of honor will be just as strict once PMA cadets join the AFP.

Today the AFP is no longer seen as an enforcer of dictatorial rule, and it seems to have been cured of the coup virus. But top officers, including PMA alumni who entered the Philippine National Police, are currently facing criminal charges for large-scale corruption.

There’s a saying that from little acorns grow big trees. At the PMA, the tradition of hazing, which has claimed the lives of several plebes, has been partly blamed for the continuing involvement of AFP officers in cases of torture, summary executions and enforced disappearances.

The same principle is seen to be at work in the persistence of corruption in the military and police involving PMA alumni. Even the death of Ensign Philip Andrew Pestaño on a Navy ship has been blamed by his relatives, who insist he was murdered, on corruption in the military.

The scandals that led to the conviction of Army Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia and the suicide of former defense and AFP chief Angelo Reyes showed that corruption in the military has become institutionalized. The public is still not sure if this has been eradicated under the daang matuwid administration.

In this light, perhaps PMA administrators thought it prudent to nip in the bud a prospective military officer’s tendency to lie. The penalty will likely be tempered, but after the scandals involving PMA alumni, the nation would welcome military officers who consider lying a serious offense.