Reason Behind Rody’s Rape Jokes at the PMA

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

I was at the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio City a day after the graduation of the 261 members of the Mabalasik Class of 2019.

My sources there told me that except to President Rodrigo Duterte, the political and military brass, and the parents of the graduating class at the covered grandstand, the Cadet Corp Armed Forces of the Philippines (CCAFP) who formed the Long Gray Line at the Borromeo Field and the thousands of spectators outside of it were soaked with the untimely downpour.

Here what my sources told me that did not appear on the media as far as I’m concerned:

·         President Duterte and party arrived at the Summer Capital a day before the commencement exercise at Fort Del Pilar.

·         He and his party checked in at the plush Manor Hotel in Camp John Hay because some officials of the Presidential Security Group told my source that the president is afraid to the ghosts that lurk at some nook and cranny of the historic presidential summer palace’s Mansion House located at ‎Leonard Wood Road.

RELISH - Cadets of the elite Philippine Military Academy in Baguio City relish the rape joke of President Rodrigo Duterte during their commencement exercise last May 26. (Photo grab from the internet)

·          On President Duterte giving the diploma to two graduating cadets and was replaced by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana to finish their distribution to the Mabalasik Class, my source said the president, who was seated and drowsy, was enmeshed the night before entertaining at his guest room in the Manor those electoral candidates who won the May 13   election.

“Kaya late na siyang dumating mga 10: 55 A.M na from the customarily 9 A.M start of the graduation ceremony dahil napuyat sa mga bisita,” my source whispered to me.

·         There was a reason behind the rape jokes cracked by the president before the graduates and the crowd. The night before he was informed that two members of the Mabalasik Class could not make the commencement because of the infractions they committed.

One of them was a criminal case of sexual molestation.

Before I quote my source and before the Commander-in-Chief signed the pardon for second, third, and fourth classes cadets he told the crowd the following:

"The number one is for rape. Putang ina. Ang number two is drugs with rape with robbery. Para sa Muntinlupa ito? Pangatlo, multiple rape of the women of Baguio, the beautiful ones," the President said.

(The number one is for rape. Son of a bitch. Number two is drugs with rape with robbery. Is this for Muntinlupa? Third, multiple rape of the women of Baguio, the beautiful ones.)

Duterte then asked who committed the cases.

"Pirmahan ko na?... Sino ang nagkasala? Taas kamay, hindi ako pipirma nito.... Show to me your face," he said.

(Do I sign this already? Who committed these? Raise your hands or I will not sign this. Show to me your face.)

The President wished the pardoned underclassmen "better luck next time."

Before that, Duterte in his speech reminded the PMA graduates to uphold the values of honor and respect.

***

Now you buckle up because here’s my source who asked for anonymity:

“Iyong upperclass dahil ga graduate humingi na e kiss niya sa cheek iyong pleba (female first year cadet) na type niya. Pumayag iyong babae. Pero hindi nakuntento si upper class biglang ni lips to lips niya si pleba kaya hayon ni reklamo siya!”

My source did not tell me the other violation of the other graduating cadet but said one of them was the adjutant.

“Iyong mabilis lumakad na nag da-dart sa Borromeo. Iyong sumisigaw iyong No. 2 after sa baron. Kaya nakita ninyo may binago sa procedure na iyon noong graduation”.

A colonel who read this news immediately commented that if the Kissing Bandit was indeed the adjutant then followers of this political blog will describe him as "Idiotant" about his actuation that cost him his career in the military.

He said two days before the graduation the parents of one of the culprits who came from Mindanao wept with disappointment upon learning that their son could not make it after the PMA academic board released its decision.

My source feared that one of them, susmariosep, could be discharged from Asia’s premier military academy where the Philippine taxpayers spent millions of pesos for each of the cadets four or more (for the “turn-back”) years at Fort del Pilar.

Despite my working as a civilian employee at the PMA in the late 1980s, I was still awed how young “parang mga  totoy o mga college students lang na papunta ng gimmick” those newly commissioned male and female second lieutenants I saw clad in civies like short pants at dusk walking to their lodging houses just nearby the PMA compound at Barangay Kias, Baguio City.

“Pag graduate na iyan sila, hindi na sila puweding tumira sa loob. Kaya kasama iyong mga parents nila dito sila nag che-checked in sa mga mini hotels that sprouted like mushrooms sa harap ng PMA,” a resident there cited.

When I asked a father that the three hogs and a cow he bought at some mountain areas of Benguet he slaughtered for his son who graduated this year was a Bacchanalian Feast, he told me: I spent P70,000 for this thanksgiving party because I was grateful my son is now a PMYer and I was spared to pay for his four years’ college education at a university here. That P70,000 for the party I treated our kin who came from far flung places and friends were paltry

A cadet at the PMA receives a salary equivalent to a Chief Master Sergeant. This senior ranked non commissioned officer (NCO) takes a monthly base pay of P34,761 or more or less P50,000 a month gross pay. This remuneration is exclusive of the socks, shoes, underwear, helmet, foods, and others that cost thousands of pesos at the PMA that are shouldered by the public coffer.

One of the graduates told me they will have a month furlough and then many of them will enroll at the Airborne Course at Fort Magsasay in Nueva Ecija.

“Then we will have our officers course where it is like going back to school again”

After finishing it, many of them will wait for their military deployment to be given by the military high command at the various camps in the country while some of them will apply, train, and survive the toughest elite Scout Ranger Course.

READ MY OTHER ARTICLE:

Filipino Cadets Bare Sad Plights at West Point