Tragedy at the Academy

"What molds a good military leader?"

We are currently witnessing a tragedy unfolding at the Philippine Military Academy. Once again, a young life was cut short and his dreams with it because of a practice we as a country cannot seem to stop.

In addition, several lives possibly more will now be destroyed and a father’s dream for his son to follow his footsteps has turned into sorrow. The careers of officers who otherwise would be retiring in glory to enjoy a well-deserved retirement now have their service reputations tarnished forever.

Senior cadets who were direct participants to what is now being termed as maltreatment have now been either dismissed or suspended. Lt General Ronnie Evangelista, the superintendent, has just resigned together with Brigadier General Bartolome Bacarro, the commandant of cadets. Others have also been relieved from their posts.

With the passage of the Anti-hazing law and the prominent media coverage of latest hazing incidents in civilian institutions, one would think that other institutions including those in the military have taken notice or learned a lesson and taken steps to stop the practice. It appears, however, that the practice has continued quietly with the same intensity and brutality.

The added tragedy in this hazing incident is that cadet Darwin Dormitorio could have survive if treated and attended to competently and professionally. From the available media reports published so far, one can deduce that the station hospital was lacking in equipment or lacking in competent medical staff to treat patients.

Cadet Dormitorio was confined and treated at the station hospital for about a month before he died. Why did the doctors not refer him to better equipped hospitals in the city for proper diagnoses? Is it because these doctors did not want the public to find out that the injury was caused by hazing? If that is the case, then these doctors should be thoroughly investigated for possible misconduct or negligence in the performance of their medical duties. Now, in addition to the two other cadets who have been maltreated and brought to other hospitals a third cadet has been evacuated to the V. Luna hospital because of what officials are saying that all these cadets were also victims of maltreatment.

Good for them because they are expected to recover but for Cadet Dormitorio, it is too late. He was laid to rest in Cagayan de Oro yesterday. Because the incident happened in a military institution, the issue of command responsibility has to come out. The common definition of command responsibility is that the commander is responsible for everything that happens in his unit. Victory, defeat and other failures or sins of omission falls unto the shoulders of the commander. It is for this reason that Lt. Gen. Ronnie Evangelista and Brig Gen Bartolome Bacarro tendered their resignations.

As to whether the death of Cadet Dormitorio will be the last remains to be seen. Unfortunately, there are still many people including unfortunately graduates of the PMA who still believe in the necessity of the practice in molding the character and quality of future military leaders. This is why even with the Anti-hazing law, the practice will be difficult to stop. Police General Oscar Albayalde, for example, said in an interview that hazing is a matter of perception. That as far as he is concerned, the kind of hazing he received was what molded him to be the kind of officer that he is today. He seems to imply that there is a kind of hazing that could be described as benign.

But that is where the danger lies. It is open to interpretation and abuse. Senator Bato dela Rosa also said that times have changed but it seems that our premier military institution has not yet found a better way to inculcate discipline instead of cadets being brutalized to the point of death as the case of Dormitorio and the three other cadets who are now recuperating have shown.

The old practice is still alive and kicking.

For whatever its worth, there is this training video that I watched one time about the way the German Army train their current recruits. The German Army was defeated in two world wars. But even in defeat, their enemies had high regard for the German Army because of the quality of their training. It is thorough and tough but the traditional fearsome talking non-commissioned officers who were always barking orders have changed their methods.

Today, military instructors take their time to explain why recruits are being asked to do what they are doing instead of just being ordered. This may look very unmilitary but when evaluated, it was found to be even more effective than the traditional system. There are therefore other ways to achieve an objective without the customary brutality of the traditional method.

West Point, the institution where the practice of hazing originated, have also done away with the practice long time ago. Today, after cadets complete their plebe year, there is some sense of equality among the cadets. In the Philippine Military Academy, the class system lasts until death. And for so long that this culture continues, I am not so confident that we have seen the last of this practice.

Maybe it is better to simply leave the PMA to grapple with this problem on its own in the hope that change is possible and the school can eventually find a way to do away with this very destructive culture of inflicting grievous physical injury to the point of death because of the mistaken belief that it is part of what molds a tough military leader.