A BAGUIO City court has ordered the arrest of six cadets and officials of the Philippine Military Academy in connection with the fatal hazing of Cadet 4th Class Darwin Dormitorio in September last year.
Ordered arrested were Dormitorio’s upper classmen Shalimar Imperial Jr., Felix Lumbag and Julius Carlo Tadena; Lt. Col. Ceasar Candelaria, former chief of the PMA Station Hospital; and medical officers Maj. Maria Ofelia Beloy and Capt. Flor Apple Apostol.
The court allowed Candelaria, Beloy and Apostol to post bail of P200,000 each.
The arrest warrant was issued on July 7 by Presiding Judge Maria Ligaya Itliong-Rivera of the Baguio City Regional Trial Court Branch 5.
Imperial and Lumbag have been indicted by the city prosecutor’s office for hazing and murder while Tadena was charged with hazing and less serious physical injuries.
Tadena was accused of injuring Dormitorio using a taser.
No bail was recommended for Imperial, Lumbag and Tadena.
The cadets are under military custody as they are undergoing court martial proceedings for violation of Article of War 97 (Conduct Prejudicial to Good Order and Military Discipline) but the court directed the Baguio city police to take custody of the three.
Armed Forces spokesman Maj. Gen. Edgard Arevalo said the military has yet to formally receive the arrest warrants for Imperial, Lumbag and Tadena.
Asked if the military will turn over the cadets to the court, he said the Judge Advocate General will study the custody issue.
He said the three are among six PMA cadets in AFP custody for the Dormitorio hazing, facing court martial.
He said the six cadets were arraigned by a general court martial on February 14 and they pleaded not guilty to the charge. He also said the court martial proceedings against the six are being delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
There have been instances when the Armed Forces retained custody of military personnel who were being tried by a military tribunal even if they are facing trial by a civilian court.
Nevertheless, Arevalo said the military establishment will cooperate in the trial of the cadets. “If we have to bring the cadets (to the court) to attend hearing, we are going to do that,” Arevalo said.
The city prosecutors office that approved the indictment of the cadets and former PMA officials dismissed the complaints against Cadets Axl Rey Sanupao, Rey David John Volante, John Vincent Manalo and tactical officers Maj. Rex Bolo and Capt. Jeffrey Batistiano for lack of probable cause.
Also cleared were former PMA superintendent Lt. Gen. Ronnie Evangelista and former commandant of cadets, Brig. Gen. Bartolome Baccaro. The two resigned from their posts after Dormitorio’s death.
Dormitorio’s ordeal started in August last year when Sanupao beat him over a pair of missing boots entrusted to the victim. This was followed by another incident wherein the 20-year-old suffered severe injuries to his internal organs after his upperclassmen took turns in beating him up, which led to his confinement at the PMA Staff Hospital from August 20 to 27 last year.
The beatings were repeated again which led to another confinement of the plebe on Sept. 5, 2019.
The last beatings occurred a day before he was found unconscious in his barracks on Sept. 18, 2019 and later declared dead at the PMA hospital.
The upper class cadets beat him as they wanted Dormitorio to quit from the academy after he identified two upperclassmen who beat him up, which led to his first confinement on August 20 to 27 last year.
Aside from punches, Dormitorio had been electrocuted through the use of a taser flashlight.
Dormitorio is a son of retired Army Col. Willy Dormitorio, a member of the PMA Class 1974, who opted for early retirement after he was identified as a member of the Reformed the Armed Forces Movement involved in failed coups in the 1980s. — With Victor Reyes and Raymond Africa
