MANILA, Philippines — A Baguio court has found two cadets of the Philippine Military Academy guilty of physical injuries related to the fatal hazing of Darwin Dormitorio in 2019.
The Baguio Municipal Trial Court in Cities Branch 1 on Friday found PMA cadets Julius Tadena and Christian Zacarias guilty for “slight physical injuries" and sentenced them to 30 days of imprisonment. They were also ordered to pay P100,000 in damages and P50,000 in legal fees.
Both Tadena and Zacarias will still be facing hazing charges along with another cadet.
Meanwhile, the court acquitted two PMA doctors and one ranking officer of the PMA hospital of the charge of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide.
Doctors Flor Apple Apostol and Maria Ofelia Beloy and PMA hospital commanding officer Ceasar Calendaria were previously slapped with murder charges over their "gross failure to provide adequate medical care to Dormitorio" when he sought medical assistance following the injuries he sustained from hazing.
Principal suspects and third-class cadets Felix Lumbag Jr. and Shalimar Imperial Jr., both under military custody, are also still facing murder and hazing charges related to Dormitorio's death.
Then 20-year-old Dormitorio died in 2019 just two months after he started his schooling in the PMA allegedly due to the hazing rituals he endured from more senior cadets at the PMA.
A day before he died, Dormitorio was made to do physically abusive exercises in his room by Lumbag, Imperial and another cadet, who allegedly hit him on the ribcage "many times,” according to a statement Dormitorio gave to the police when he reported the incident.
Dormitorio was later brought to the hospital but was discharged after just four hours and given a prescription for a urinary tract infection. He was found unconscious the next day and declared dead on arrival after being rushed to the hospital.
Authorities later found out that Dormitorio and other PMA plebes were forced to undergo electrocution via taser and physical abuse from their upperclassmen for at least a month prior to his death.
The top graduate of the PMA class of 2023 paid tribute to Dormitorio in his speech during the commencement exercises of the PMA Madasigon Class — the batch that Dormitorio was part of when he joined the PMA. — with reports by Kristine Joy Patag