3 PMA cadets get life term for fatal hazing

Three former cadets of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) have been found guilty in the hazing death of a fellow cadet in 2019.

- ARTEMIO DUMLAO

In a verdict released yesterday, Baguio City Regional Trial Court Judge Ligaya Itliong-Rivera sentenced to life imprisonment Shalimar Imperial, Felix Lumbag Jr. and Julius Tadena, for the death of Darwin Dormitorio, then 20 years old.

Tadena was specifically convicted of hazing and ordered to indemnify Dormitorio’s family P2 million. The two others were found guilty of murder.

Currently detained at a regional custodial facility, Tadena, Imperial and Lumbag are expected to be transferred to the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa.

Dormitorio, from Cagayan de Oro and a member of the PMA Madasigon class of 2023, died on Sept. 18, 2019 at the PMA Hospital where he was brought the previous day after he was found unconscious inside a room at the Mayo Hall of the PMA at Fort Del Pilar.

According to court records, Dormitorio was said to have been beaten purportedly for losing a pair of boots of a senior cadet. His death came just two months after he entered the PMA.