EDITORIAL — Permanent insanity

Last May, Darwin Dormitorio would have graduated together with the rest of the “Madasigon” Class of 2023 at the Philippine Military Academy. Instead he cannot even rest in peace as he and his family await justice for the hazing that he suffered at the hands of his upperclassmen in the PMA as soon as he entered the academy in 2019.

“Madasigon” stands for Mandirigmang may Dangal, Simbolo ng Galing at Pagbangon. Where the honor lies in torturing and beating to death someone who is not expected to fight back, only Dormitorio’s killers can explain. During the commencement exercises of the Madasigon class, the top graduate reportedly paid tribute to Dormitorio. This is cold comfort to the bereaved relatives of the 20-year-old plebe, who suffered violence over two months despite the passage of two laws so far outlawing hazing.

Apart from being subjected to maltreatment, humiliation and severe beating, two cadets reportedly electrocuted Dormitorio’s genitals with a taser flashlight. Then president Rodrigo Duterte, who in 2018 had signed Republic Act 11053 or the Anti-Hazing Law, which amended RA 8049 or the Anti-Hazing Act of 1995, lamented that hazing was a “permanent insanity.”

It is doubly lamentable that youths undergoing training as defenders of the nation, in what is supposed to be the country’s premier military training institution, are among the most chronic breakers of the law. The PMA has a long list of hazing cases, many of which ended in death.

Yesterday, two of Dormitorio’s tormentors were found guilty of slight physical injuries. A trial court in Baguio sentenced PMA cadets Julius Tadena and Christian Zacarias to 30 days in prison and to pay P150,000 in damages and legal fees. The conviction has raised hopes that the two will also be found guilty of murder and hazing, which carry heavier penalties. Principal defendants Felix Lumbag Jr. and Shalimar Imperial Jr. are still undergoing trial.

The Baguio court cleared PMA doctors Flor Apple Apostol and Maria Ofelia Beloy along with PMA station hospital commanding officer Col. Caesar Candelaria, who were indicted on charges of failing to provide Dormitorio proper care for his injuries. In one incident, Dormitorio’s pain from the beating was diagnosed as urinary tract infection.

That it took four years to establish guilt for inflicting physical injuries can be excused at this point, with the pandemic lockdowns delaying adjudication. But with the COVID emergency declared over nationwide, there is no more excuse for the wheels of Philippine justice to continue grinding at snail’s pace. The inability to punish perpetrators is one of the biggest reasons for the failure of the law to deter hazing, and for turning it into a permanent insanity.