Some would call for the PMA’s abolition but that is quite too severe for the country’s premier Military Academy. If many of their alumni are way below par, I attribute it to their failure to teach their cadets the right sense of values. They failed to develop the whole man by concentrating on body and mind developments only, forgetting that man is made up of body, mind and spirit or soul. The loser is obviously relegated to the dust bin.
Nonsensical values prevailed in their practices. They were the originator of hazing the plebes because they believed that being able to withstand pains would make the officers more courageous plain nonsense. Torturing the plebes who would later become upper classmen, who would torture the future plebes because they were also tortured. As a result they produced many violent robots in the ranks of officers.
If the academy leaves out in the development of their students their relationship to their God, they will be producing a morally crippled bunch of officers who might appear to be gentlemanly, honorable and courageous but inside a weakling, a prime target of corruption. One American Jesuit in the Ateneo had a blunt statement for us. “If you cannot stand on your own two feet, you are not a man, you are a jellyfish! (no backbone). Having the right principles will produce more courage those inflicting pain on the students.
The administration of PMA should rehabilitate their curriculum to develop the whole man. They are alright in military training but they have a lot to catch up in training officers in spiritual values. Greater emphasis should be made on the importance of their eternal well-being and their relationships to their God and their fellowmen. Then they will not be producing spineless officers who cannot refuse a big monetary temptation or habitual coup plotters. The nation will then be able to say the investment of billions of pesos in the PMA was well worth it.