ARMED Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Noel Clement said the suggestion to suspend recruitment at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) is a “very drastic move” that will greatly affect the organization.
“If we stop the recruitment of cadets for the PMA, it’s going to affect the profile of the armed forces in as far as all our officers are concerned. PMA produces the biggest bulk of the junior officers that we have. If we stop the recruitment at PMA, our future projections and our replacement for those who retired and for our casualties will be affected,” he said.
“Halting the recruitment of PMA is a very drastic move. We have to sit down and think about all of these measures before we even consider implementing them,” he added.
Clement was reacting to the suggestion of AKO Bicol representative Alfredo Garbin Jr. to suspend for at least a year due to the cases of maltreatment there. Some cases have even been recorded on video.
He said the internal military report that revealed at least 27 more cases of maltreatment, mostly of plebes, is a clear proof of “systemic and grave moral flaws” in the country’s military school.
The confidential military report revealed that 22 4th-class cadets (freshmen) have been hospitalized due to physical abuse they obtained in the academy.
Garbin said halting recruitment is a way of reassuring the parents and all the aspirants of their safety and security in the academy.
“I believe enforcing military justice and military law includes cleaning up the PMA. Civilian oversight of this cleansing is necessary and this Congress can do on behalf of the parents, families, and friends of PMA cadets,” he said.
Based on the report, 52 cadets have been moved to confinement pending the investigation on their alleged involvement in at least 27 cases of maltreatment or hazing.
They include 38 3rd-class cadets (sophomore), seven 2nd-class cadets (junior), and seven 1st-class cadets (senior).
The report came out after the death of Cadet 4th class Darwin Dormitorio on September 18, 2019 due to cardiac arrest secondary to internal hemorrhage which he sustained from hazing.
Three other cadets were also confined in the military hospital for injuries caused by maltreatment.
Several videos of cadets being abused while inside the barracks have surfaced in the past days.
Military officials earlier confirmed that the abuse happened inside the PMA and that investigation is already ongoing.
Clement assured that they were undertaking short term measures as well as institutionalizing long term measures to prevent abuse.
He admitted that the PMA has suffered “great damage” because of the said incidents.
“What the cadets were doing in the videos was totally wrong, even more is them documenting it through video. It manifests that there is something wrong in their individual thinking. We have accepted the fact that these incidents occur. The issue right now is what we are doing to be able to address it,” said Clement.
“The incidents that we have identified in the past are all being investigated. We have already identified cadets that have been involved and the appropriate cases or punishments are starting to be implemented already...PMA is not a perfect organization and we have to be dynamic about how we implement programs to be able to produce good future leaders without having to undergo maltreatment or other wrong practices in the academy,” he added.
He said among the measures they have implemented is that in one room, plebes will be joined by their upperclassmen to prevent instances of maltreatment.
“We have stopped some of the alleged traditions in the academy that have been causes of the maltreatment. We are now encouraging cadets to instead of giving physical punishments in the terms of physical contact, they give more exercises to the plebes to help develop their physical profile,” said Clement.
“The measures that we have put in place are enough at the moment while we continue to implement long-term measures to prevent similar cases from happening,” he added. (SunStar Philippines)