PHILIPPINE Military Academy (PMA) cadets Julius Tadena and Christian Zacarias have been found guilty for “slight physical injuries” in the case of death due to alleged hazing of cadet Darwin Dormitorio in 2019.
Baguio Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) Branch 1 issued the guilty verdict on Friday, sentencing the two cadets to 30 days of imprisonment, with an order to pay P100,000 in damages and P50,000 in legal fees. The two are still to face hazing charges along with other cadets.
Principal suspects Felix Lumbag Jr. and Shalimar Imperial Jr., who are both currently under military custody, are still facing murder and hazing charges over Dormitorio’s death.
The MTCC Branch 1 also issued an acquittal for PMA doctors Flor Apple Apostol and Maria Ofelia Beloy and PMA hospital commanding officer Ceasar Calendaria over charges of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide.
Dormitorio died in 2019 following alleged hazing from PMA senior cadets Lumbag, Imperial, and another cadet who forced him to do physically abusive exercises and hit him multiple times, as well as at least a month of regular electrocution with a taser and other physical abuse.
Dormitorio was brought to the hospital but discharged after a mere four hours and given a prescription for urinary tract infection, and after being found unconscious the other day and taken back to the hospital, he was declared dead on arrival.
