PMA’s Imbroglio: Congress and Court’s Intervention?

By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

When I bumped recently into former five- time Speaker Joe de Venecia, I asked him if the gubernatorial bid of former congressman Mark Cojuangco will reinvigorate the chances of 2016 presidential bet Mar Roxas since  Cojuangco’s Nationalist People’s Coalition is the  dominant party in the almost three million population Pangasinan?

“Well you know, it’s too early to talk about national and local politics what I’m saying whoever should build a powerful coalition that will address the problem of poverty and corruption, climate change, and the  creation of hundreds of thousands of jobs,” he cited.

(NOTE: Please click my article on “JDV hails Cojuangco’s Gov’s Bid” at http://wwwmortzcortigoza.blogspot.com/2014/02/jdv-hails-cojuangcos-govs-bid.html)

I asked de Venecia, known as connoisseur of international politics in Asia if not the world, of President Benigno C. Aquino III  comparisons of Mainland China to Nazi Germany when the latter annexed Sudetentland in Czechoslovakia  at the behest of the Allied Forces’ Great Britain, France, Soviet Union , and others to appease Adolf Hitler’s Germany not to launch war against them (but gee whiz this did not happen as Hitler took, some  through his dazzling blitzkrieg, Austria (1938), Poland (1939), Belgium (1940), France (1940), Netherlands (1940), Luxemburg (1940), Channel Islands (1940), Romania (1940), and some parts of the Soviet Unions (1940), Yugoslavia and Greece (1941), Serbia (1941), Crete (1941), and Estonia (1941)- Mortz).

“We should move now! We should go to the direction of the possibility of avoiding war! That should be our focus. I asked the United States and Japan, and China, and ASEAN to join forces in the battle against climate change. Climate change is creating untold havoc. Sickening tens of millions of our children, destroying our hard won economic gains that what we should have,” de Venecia emphatically told me in his rabble rousing fashion that trigger the hoi polloi to cheers him wildly whenever he used this signature discourse in the stage.

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Recently somebody called me that I assailed Governor Amado T. Espino in this column in the light of the declaration of former congressman Mark Cojuangco’s gubernatorial bid. Son of a gun, that was not true! The wisest thing for the governor’s subordinate is to read first my recent past two columns that cover Cojuangco and check there if I criticized the governor. What I wrote there was what Cojuangco told us media men when we chanced upon him after the State of the Province Address of Governor Espino. The other topics there were the mixed reactions of media kibitzers on Cojuangco’s bid.

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Geez, I was hooked recently perusing the various comments on the blog of a PMAer Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc who used the “nom de guerre” Ranger Cabunzky that can be seen onhttp://rangercabunzky.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-cadet-honor-code-my-personal.html?showComment=1393232585158#c3732734301954580861.

He explained in the vernacular the case of graduating Philippine Military Academy’s cadet Jeff Aldrin Cudia. Here are some of the excerpts:

“Ito ang mga tanung at sagutin ko na rin.

1)            Na-dismiss ba on time ang klase nina Cudia? ANSWER: Yes. Kaya nga hindi na late iyong bulk ng klase, hindi ba?; 2)Valid reason/basis ba sa pag-excuse sa next duty (classroom formation) ang pagtingin-tingin ng grades? ANSWER: No. Personal niyang diskarte iyon. Invalid, unacceptable, unfair to those who follow the regulation; 3) Given, pinag antay sila ni Ms. Monica Costales para matingnan ang grades nilang lima sa past exam, can it be used as valid reason to be absent/late from class formation? ANSWER: No. That is not a legal order. Cadets must be responsible for their actions. They must not follow instructions that would cause them to violate regulations. That is how we are trained. Kung sinunod nilang ang instructions ni Prof. Costales kasalanan nina Cadet Cudia iyon; 4) Ngayon, nagsisinungaling ba si Cadet Cudia nang ginawa niyang rason sa Delinquency Report ang “I was dismissed a little bit late by the professor”? ANSWER: Yes. He lied. The class was clearly dismissed on time. Kung hind natin markahan ng LATE si Cadet Cudia, ano ang sasabihin noong ibang pumapasok sa classroom on time? Gawa-gawa na lang ba iyon? Porke Deputy Brigade Commander siya? Porke running No.2 siya?”

“Kung hindi niyo maintindihan iyan, ewan ko na lang. I will stand for my belief that Cadet Cudia really lied by using “palusot” na ang sistema sa mga tiwaling opisyal sa Pilipinas. Again and again: Gotcha Boloy! Gotcha Cadet Cudia!”

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The problem with the hullabaloo brought by Cudia’s ostracism and the pressure for him to resign from the cadet Corp because he violated one the three “mortal” sins provided by the Honor Code like Lying, Cheating, and Stealing was the furor raised by Dado Enrique, who was the class baron and valedictorian of PMA Class 1983.

"Do not cover up the 8-1 that became 9-0 and explain to me that it is the current practice. Shame on you all," Enrique, a former Scout Ranger who resigned from the service in 1990s, said.

Enrique himself recently filed a case against 11 members of the Honor Committee "to include other cadets who affixed their signature" in the committee decision, he told news blog Rappler. He said was convinced by the truthfulness of Cudia who narrated to him what happened.

"Produce the video recorder of the trial to settle this and see how they tried this cadet," Enrique dared.

Enrique defended the PMA Honor Code but raised questions about its implementation. 

Enrique said he took it upon himself to talk to Cudia when he read the family's Facebook posts. He went to Baguio City before the alumni homecoming to talk to Cudia himself. He said he was convinced that Cudia should not be dismissed.

Many PMA alumni are protective of the Honor Code and the processes of the secretive Honor Committee.

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Who therefore is telling the truth, Cadet Cudia or the members of the Honor Committee?

Here’s my two-cent take on the issue:

I think this Cudia lying incident becomes a matter of national interest since the multi-million of pesos of taxpayers monies spent for his education will go to drain incase he is forced unceremoniously to leave the long gray line without the right due process applied to him. It is for PMA to answer those allegations that indeed (1) it was not true that the Honor Committee was not arbitrary by forcing the lone “nay vote” to become part of the 9 absolute “aye” votes (show to the public the investigation-video as what a “baron of PMA class ’83” cried), (2) that the professor certified as being circulated in public that she was responsible in dismissing late Cudia from the class.

Without answering these allegations in public, PMA honor committee’s integrity before the eyes of the Filipinos not only become a suspect but responsible for the loss of multi-million pesos scarce tax payers monies not only for Cudia but to other cadets who left the Academy by keeping among themselves their grievances on the injustices done to them by those “soldier boys” tyrants called the nine-voting members of the Honor Committee.

Is Congress Investigation or restraining order with mandamus with T.R.O (Temporary Restraining Order) from the court not far behind?