PMA cadet found dead; foul play ruled out

BAGUIO CITY — Philippine Military Academy (PMA) fourth class cadet Cristina Madayag can’t help but remember the day when her close friend, fellow freshman Jamel Ariel Valencia, vanished.

Valencia, she recalled, had set out for the academy’s mess hall at 6 a.m. on June 16 to check out the menu for the day. He never came back.

A police search party found the body of Valencia, still clad in his uniform, half-buried in mud in a 100-foot ravine at the back of the PMA gym last Thursday night.

"We will surely miss his smiling face," Madayag said.

But according to PMA officials and Valencia’s other classmates, it was probably a smile that masked a longing.

PMA Superintendent Maj. Gen. Edilberto Adan believes there was no foul play involved in Valencia’s death and that the cadet probably fell into the ravine while attempting to escape from the school.

Lt. Col. Arturo Ortiz, PMA commandant of cadets, said other cadets had observed Valencia to be homesick and always contemplating on leaving the academy.

Adan said homesick cadets have used the ravine at the back of the PMA gym as an escape route.

"May history talaga iyang lugar na iyan, even during my time," Adan said. "Kasi pagbaba mo diyan, puwede ka nang sumakay ng bus palabas ng Baguio. May mga successful na kadeteng nakatakas diyan, tapos nababalitaan na lang namin nasa Pasay na sila (When you reach the bottom of the ravine, you can already board a bus out of Baguio. There have been cadets who successfully escaped before. We just find out that they’re already in Pasay)."

Adan said the investigation of the Baguio City police and the autopsy report of the Baguio Emergency Medical Service showed that Valencia’s death was due to an accident.

Physicians led by Dr. Manuel Tinoyan found a linear crack at the right side of Valencia’s skull and a depression in the cranial cavity in the same area, Adan said.

Doctors also noted a fracture in the cadet’s left ankle.

Despite the findings, Adan said other law enforcement agencies are conducting separate investigations.

Valencia’s remains were flown to his hometown in Ilocos Norte after a Mass at the PMA’s St. Joseph Church yesterday afternoon.

In the end, he made it home.