A Baguio court has ordered the arrest of three former Philippine Military Academy cadets and three medical officers who were earlier indicted for the hazing and murder of the late Cadet 4th Class Darwin Dormitorio last year.
Regional Trial Court Branch 5 Presiding Judge Maria Ligaya Itliong-Rivera on July 7 has issued the warrants of arrest of former cadets 1st Class Shalimar Imperial, Jr. and Felix Lumbag, Jr. for hazing and murder in relation to Dormitorio’s death.
No bail was recommended for the two cadets for both charges.
Former PMA Station Hospital medical officers – Capt. Flor Apple Apostol, Maj. Maria Ofelia Beloy, and Lt/Col. Ceasar Candelaria – were also issued an arrest warrant. The three military doctors were entitled to post a bail of P200,000 each.
Former cadet Julius Carlo Tadena was ordered arrested for hazing without any bail recommended.
The City Prosecutors Office has earlier indicted Imperial and Lumbag for murder after it found that the two cadets’ repeated physical abuses on the late Dormitorio on various dates between August and September 2019 caused his death.
The Prosecutor, meanwhile, indicted the three PMASH doctors for murder for their failure to provide adequate medical care to Dormitorio, which resulted in the latter’s death.
Dormitorio died on Sept. 18, 2019 as a result of the series of maltreatment he suffered from his upperclassmen at PMA.
The accused cadets are currently at the PMA stockade and once the warrants are served by the law enforcers, they will be presented before the court then to be turned over to the Baguio City Jail. – Jane B. Cadalig
April 24, 2024
