“Hindi ko na po talaga kaya.”
Hours before he collapsed and later declared dead, Cadet 4th Class Darwin Dormitorio appeared to have already been begging for mercy from his two upperclassmen at the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio City who subjected him to intense physical maltreatment last Sept. 17.
“It was a hell day for him,” said Police Col. Allan Co, director of the Baguio police, who made the statement from what the witness-cadets told the police investigators.
According to Co, it started at around 6:30 a.m. on Sept. 17 when Dormitorio was summoned by Cadet 1st Class Axl Rey Sanupao in his room over a pair of combat boots that was entrusted to the plebe cadet a week earlier.
Based on the statements of the witnesses, it was the day when Dormitorio was summoned by the person who would butcher him (“kakatay sa kanya”).
When Dormitorio failed to produce the missing combat boots, Sanupao endorsed him to Cadet 3rd Class Felix Lumbag and Shalimar Imperial who was tagged as the cadets who had direct participation in maltreating the Dormitorio.
Dormitorio was then taken by Lumbag and Imperial to their room where he was maltreated. Co did not elaborate what happened inside the room.
But on his way out through a ledge in Lumbag and Imperial’s room, he was spotted by Sanupao who ordered him to do a “squatras,” which paved the way for the second round of the maltreatment. Squatras is described as standing up every after one push-up.
Dormitorio reportedly gave up after doing five squatras. “Hindi ko na po talaga kaya. Medyo masakit na po talaga,”
Dormitorio was quoted telling Sanupao based on the testimony of some witness-cadets.
This was heard by a classmate of Sanupao who appeared to have taunted him “masakit na talaga” before telling him to go to the room of another upperclassman of Dormitorio and lie down on the bed.
But lying down on upperclassman’s bed is considered as a serious offense and based on the probe, it appeared that Dormitorio was set up for another wave of maltreatment.
Indeed it was.
When Dormitorio’s upperclassmen arrived in the room, they saw him lying on the bed and it was then that he was ordered by the owner of the bed, a 2nd class cadet, to get up.
“But Dormitorio could no longer get up because it appears that he was already feeling an intense pain. He was then pulled out of bed and it was then that he fell down on the floor,” said Co.
“He was kicked by this cadet many times hard. We have yet to confirm what type of shoes he was wearing,” he added. This caused Dormitorio to slump on the floor almost unconscious.
At around 9:15 a.m., he was taken to a hospital inside the PMA.
In the hospital, Dormitorio was diagnosed to be suffering from Urinary Tract Infection by the attending physician based on the result of the urinalysis.
“The question we were asking, knowing he was already hospitalized before Aug. 20 with markings, shouldn’t they have suspected already?” said Co.
Dormitorio, as per hospital records, was released at around 4:30 p.m.
The diagnosis of UTI appeared to have put Dormitorio to more trouble at the hands of other upperclassmen. “Siguro ang thinking ay nag-iinarte lang siya and one of the upperclass said UTI lang naman,” said Co.
So when another classman spotted him sitting in the bed, he kicked Dormitorio several times in the head, according to Co.
Taser is one of the items strictly being prohibited inside the PMA and its presence inside the academy bolstered police theory that it was sneaked inside for maltreatment purposes.
After suffering three separate ordeals at the hands of his upperclassmen, Co said Dormitorio was still able to join some activities inside the PMA.
But his ordeal was not yet over. Shortly before midnight, Dormitorio was maltreated anew, this time, using a taser reportedly in his private parts.
The whole-day maltreatment on Dormitorio was too much for his body. At around 1 a.m. the following day, he was seen vomiting and complaining of stomachache.
At around 3:30 a.m., Dormitorio did not respond to the morning call for cadets. He was found unconscious in his bed and was immediately taken to the hospital.
At 5:15 a.m., he was declared dead. The cause of his death was cardiac arrest secondary to internal hemorrhage.
“Basically what happened was that on Sept. 17, parang may nabutas (internal organs) na unti-unting nag-leak so inabutan siya early in the morning,” said Co.
Co said at least four police-lawyers are now working to file a case against all the cadets involved in maltreating Dormitorio. He said they expect the cases of violation of the Anti-Hazing Law and murder to be filed against the involved cadets. (Aaron Recuenco)
