AFP chief opposes partylist rep proposal to suspend PMA recruitment

October 25, 2019

A suspension of Philippine Military Academy (PMA) recruitment for a short time as proposed by a partylist congressman will "affect the profile" of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

This was emphasized by AFP Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Noel Clement following the proposal of AKO Bicol Partylist Rep. Alfredo Garbin to suspend PMA recruitment for at least a year following the reported maltreatment of cadets.

"If we stop the recruitment of cadets for the PMA, it’s going to affect the profile of the armed forces in as far as all our officers are concerned. PMA produces the biggest bulk of the junior officers that we have," Clement said in an interview with a government television on Thursday.

"If we stop the recruitment at PMA, our future projections and our replacement for those who retired and for our casualties will be affected," he said.

"Halting the recruitment of PMA is a very drastic move. We have to sit down and think about all of these measures before we even consider implementing them," he added.

Aside from the death of Cadet Fourth Class Darwin Dormitorio, at least three other cadets were hospitalized due to alleged hazing incidents within the academy.

Just recently videos of reported maltreatment involving PMA cadets in previous years circulated in social media.

"What the cadets were doing in the videos was totally wrong, even more is them documenting it through video", said Clement. 

"It manifests that there is something wrong in their individual thinking.We have accepted the fact that these incidents occur. The issue right now is what we are doing to be able to address it," he said.

"The incidents that we have identified in the past are all being investigated. We have already identified cadets that have been involved and the appropriate cases or punishments are starting to be implemented already," he added.

Clement explained that joining a military organization is not same as entering a regular university or college.

"The purpose is to become future officer or enlisted personnel. They are being prepared to handle weapons to fight the enemy of the state; they are being trained practically to kill and to fight so they have to be tough to be able to handle these situations. The objective is to change their mind set from that of a civilian to a military leader," he said.

"Cadets have different phases in this process. In the desire to be able to fast-track that development process, some cadets probably think that they have to inflict harm to achieve this objective. These are not things that are being thought in the academy. These are not authorized and allowed. Every time there are violations, they are being addressed and the appropriate punishments are being undertaken," he added.

Clement emphasized that the PMA and the AFP are conducting reforms to improve the system of the academy and to stop maltreatment among cadets.

" Because of past incidents, PMA has suffered great damage because the institution was being attacked.What we are trying to do right now is to put in short term measures as well as institutionalize long term measures to prevent all of these from happening again," he said.

"PMA is not a perfect organization and we have to be dynamic about how we implement programs to be able to produce good future leaders without having to undergo maltreatment or other wrong practices in the academy. A lot of things have changed already. PMA has implemented that in one room, plebes will be joined by their upperclassmen to prevent instances of maltreatment," said Clement.

"We have stopped some of the alleged traditions in the academy that have been causes of the maltreatment,'' said Clement.

''We are now encouraging cadets to instead of giving physical punishments in the terms of physical contact, they give more exercises to the plebes to help develop their physical profile. The measures that we have put in place are enough at the moment while we continue to implement long-term measures to prevent similar cases from happening," he stated.

"I have given instructions to the PMA Superintendent to consider a third party probably a group from the academe or a group of former graduates of PMA that will be able to look from the outside perspective and help determine what programs can be put in place to make our solution in the issue of maltreatment long-term," he added. Robina Asido/DMS