Encouraging more maltreatment and hazing

SEVERAL retired PNP generals led by Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong have virtually erected a gauntlet for PNP chief Oscar Albayalde to hurdle. The heaviest blow came from former Brig. General Rudy Lacadin, then the deputy chief of operations of the PNP CIDG. Testifying during the Senate hearing last Wednesday, he claimed that Albayalde told him “na mayroon ako konti dyan,” referring to the P650 million worth of shabu seized by “ninja cops” in Pampanga in November 20013.
The strong denial of Albayalde did not diminish the weight of the damaging statement. So far, Albayalde has failed to offer credible explanations to accusations of the generals that he intervened in the investigation to protect the cops who were his men when he was provincial director of Pampanga. Ranged against former generals who have told a consistent narrative of corruption and deception, the pathetic Albayalde has become toothless with his endless denials that the senators were able to see through.
So far, he has, in three succeeding public hearings, opened himself up and his top position in the PNP to blistering attacks and to public ridicule. He must admit that his integrity is now shot, whether the verbal tirades at the hearings were valid or not, and that his prolonged presence there will continue to drag the credibility and image of the PNP and its leadership once again down the gutter.
It is almost certain that the apparent web of conspiracy also involved former and PNP generals who had an ax to grind against Albayalde. On one hand, Albayalde, for all the unlawful glitches that visited him then and now, does not deserve the spectacle of a nearly public inquisition by grandstanding senators and from the news media that cannot restrain its reporters and TV and radio anchors from relishing Albayalde’s life turning from bad to worse.
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President Duterte should have a son or grandson go through the severe initiation rites at the PMA so he could personally come face-to-face with the ordeal that has claimed the life of Cadet Darwin Dormitorio and, according to Wikipedia, 43 others from various universities and colleges. Dormitorio was the third hazing fatality at the PMA; the two others, also according to Wikipedia, were Eduardo Domingo and Monico de Guzman back in 2001.
As President, it is not for him to declare publicly that hazing cannot be stopped at the premier national cadet institute and at other educational institutions since there exists an anti-hazing law that he is sworn to enforce. If he cares so much about the youth of this country whose future, he repeatedly proclaims, he must protect through the vicious drug campaign, he should not withdraw his iron fist today in the face of the almost unspeakable atrocities prevalent in countless fraternities and at the PMA.
Why does he condone the despair and helplessness of the cream of the crop at the PMA who are tightly screened from about 1,500 entrance passers out of a field of some 25,000 applicants each year? Is it hard for the President to realize that he may have encouraged more physical maltreatments and emotional abuses? Does he care little about the future of the youth enduring the incomparably intensive physical and personal rigors at the PMA as they strive to be at the forefront one day in the defense of the security and stability of this troubled nation?
It seems Mr. Duterte cares nothing for the family of Dormitorio and for Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana who remains outraged by the sudden and brutal death of the cadet. Lorenzana is reportedly related to the Dormitorio family. The President’s wake-up call may come one day when he finds himself staring down at the coffin of the corpse of one of his favorite grandsons who was mauled to death by PMA hazers or university fratmen.