Don't let PMA teach your children

Don't let PMA teach your children

I urge all who have children, nieces and nephews, grandchildren and friends thinking of joining the PMA to discourage them from taking its entrance examinations.

They will train your children not to lie, not to cheat, not to steal and not to tolerate the doing of any of these acts by means of using FEAR of dismissal from the Academy as the compulsory motive to act by the Code.  When that fear is gone and your kids will now have guns and positions of power they will become dangerous animals killing people in the remote places even if suspected only as rebels.

What happened to 1st Class Cadet Aldrin Jeff P. Cudia is a case in point where you saw honor committee members picked from the pool of 32 without the use of raffle to advance the agenda of the members.

Of course it will only be the 1st class cadets who will control who will become members.  They are the seniors and underclassmen committee members will not protest.

In the case of Cudia, only first class and second class cadets were chosen without raffle. They were handpicked from the pool of 32.

The honor committee chairman appeared to be very interested in the case of Cudia that he was even present during the interview of Aldrin conducted by the three Foxtrot company cadets serving as three honor committee members tasked to conduct preliminary investigation.  One of the three was running No. 2 to Cudia.  With Cudia out, that No. 2 is now the No. 1 among all the Navy cadets.

Then the three Foxtrot members decided there was prima facie evidence to hold Cudia for trial by the Honor Committee.  The chairman of the panel did not inhibit.  That is despite the fact that the chair appeared ill-motivated because he was the complainant (originator) in the previous honor violation case where Cudia had just been acquitted a few days ago.

The deliberations as listed in the Honor Code were done and the voting was made.  Eight (8) voted "guilty" and one (1) voted "not guilty."  Under its rules, only a unanimous vote of 9 for "guilty" can convict a cadet being tried.   So that the honor committee majority resorted to "chambering" where they compelled the dissenter to change his vote.  There is nothing written in the Honor Code procedure that there shall be allowed that second voting.

Therefore, the majority manipulated and cheated in order to make it appear that Cudia was guilty when the truth is he was not.   They took undue advantage of the fact that their deliberations are to be made secret forever for they thought nobody can discover it forever.

Is this culture of secrecy related to the undeniable facts that most of the PMAers in the Philippine National Police (PNP) are the reasons why jueteng and other forms of illegal gambling will not stop, the reasons why illegal drugs will not be abated and instead seized and re-sold, the reasons why many policemen under them commit the crime of planting of evidence of illegal drugs, etc.?

It is up to you to answer.

Unless the PMA change its honor system to the Honor Concept developed by then 1st Class Cadet (midshipman) Ross Perot for the US Naval Academy, that PMA tradition will not grow noble and will never ever be seen by the people as good men and gentlemen.