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Tuesday, December 23, 2003
8 senior cadets sue PMA officials
By Harley F. Palangchao
BAGUIO -- Afraid of not being able to graduate, eight senior cadets of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) asked a local court to stop PMA officials and professors from investigating the complainants over allegations they cheated in their information technology subject last September.
It was the first time in PMA's history that cadets sued the country's premier military institution. In the past, PMA was the one suing cadets accused of engaging in hazing and other forms of maltreatment.
In their petition for preliminary injunction, mandatory injunction and temporary restraining order, First Class cadets Eddyson Abanilla, Euphraim Diciano, Bernardo Huerte, Jerome Lozada, Eugene Mojar, Jonathan Serote, Jay Tarriela and Jimmy Oliver Vingno, claimed they were being deprived of due process.
Assisted by the Ecca Law Office under lawyer Abelardo Estrada, the cadets said that while the investigation on the alleged cheating was ongoing, PMA officials and professors refused to provide the complainants copies of the formal charges against them.
Court records obtained by Sun.Star showed that last Sept. 30, the cadets learned they had been reported by PMA management information science class professor Jovelyn Hermano of having violated the Honor Code for cheating in her class.
The allegation was reportedly based on mere suspicion that some of the cadets gave answers similar to that given by fellow cadets in another class and the fact that their papers had erasures.
The cadets told the court the Honor Committee, composed of first class cadets, conducted a preliminary investigation but they were not furnished a copy of the results of the investigation.
Subsequently, Maj. Gen. Edilberto Adan, PMA superintendent, ordered the creation of a Battalion Board to investigate the matter.
Adan also reportedly ordered the eight cadets to refrain from joining their respective Officer's Preparatory Course.
While the members of the Battalion Board have not yet convened, the cadets were subjected to proceedings presided by the Honor Committee without notice to the higher-ups last December 6 and 7.
Cadets found violating the Honor Code by cheating, stealing, and lying were given the option to quit even if they were among the ranks of the graduating.
Last December 9, the cadets insisted on their right to be represented by counsel and asked for copies of their case folders. The requests were also contained in a series of communications addressed to Adan and concerned PMA officials.
The academy, however, has not acted on the communications, according to the cadets.
The respondents in the case include Adan, Gen. Cardozo Luna, the commandant of cadets; Lt. Raul Ragacho, PMA adjutant; Cadet Ronald Juan, chairman of the Honor Committee and Jennifer Hermano and engineer Magdalena Martinez of the PMA Department of Computer and Information System.
(December 23, 2003 issue)
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