Cadet Cudia may take case to court — PAO's Acosta

Dismissed Philippine Military Academy Cadet Aldrin Jeff Cudia may seek the intervention of the courts if the military school and the Armed Forces of the Philippines fail to act on his new appeals.

"We have submitted the appeals. Pag-aaralan daw [nila]… Kaya dalawa 'yung na-submit namin kasi nagtuturuan [sila]... sabi sa PMA Baguio raw... [tapos] sa Camp Aguinaldo raw," Public Attorney's Office chief Persida Acosta Acosta told GMA News Online in a phone interview on Wednesday.

In a statment, Acosta also said that if there will be no resolution before or after PMA Cadet's graduation on March 16, they will take the case to a lower court in Baguio City.

"We will ask the court for a mandamus [for] mandatory induction," Acosta added.

Cudia's family accompanied Acosta on Wednesday in filing the cadet's appeal at the military head quarters.

Cadet Cudia was meted with 11 demerits and 13 hours of touring (walking on grounds) as he was two minutes late for a class. The cadet appealed his punishment, prompting the PMA's Honor Committee to investigate the case.

Only months before his graduation, the Honor Committee found him guilty of lying, a violation of the institution's Honor Code.

In his written explanation for coming late for a class, Cudia said he was dismissed late by his professor. The Honor Committee tagged this as a lie, since he was actually asked by the professor to wait after class to receive a document.

On the recommendation of the Honor Committee, the PMA dismissed Cudia.

AFP chief of staff Emmanuel Bautista asked for a reinvestigation on Cudia's case. However, the PMA appeals board on Tuesday upheld its earlier decision that cost the cadet's graduation from the country's premier military school.

Cudia, a PMA First Class cadet, was at the top of his Navy Class, was a Deputy Baron and in top three of the entire Class of 2014.

New witness

As the PMA's Cadet Review and Appeals Board (CRAB) asked Cudia to present a new evidence for his case, Commander Junjit Tabuada of the Philippine Navy stepped out as the new witness.

In his affidavit obtained by GMA News Online, Tabuada said that after the Honor Committee's deliberation on Cudia's case, he chanced upon the cadet who voted "not guilty." However, the cadet admitted that he overturned his vote.

"When he was about to leave I called him, "[redacted], halika muna dito," and he approached me and I let him sit in the chair in front of my table. I told and asked him, "Talagang nadali si Cudia ah… ano ba ang nangyari? Mag-tagalog [redacted] ka." He replied," Talagang NOT guilty ang vote ko sa kanya sir," and I asked him, "Oh, bakit naging guilty 'di ba pag may isang [mag-vote ng] NOT GUILTY, abswelto na?"

He Replied: Chinamber ako sir, bale pinapa-justify kung bakit nag-NOT GUILTY vote ako, at na-pressure din ako sir kaya binago ko, sir." So, I told him, "sayang, matalino at mabait pa naman" and he replied "oo nga sir." After that conversation, I let him go," the affidavit read.

For his part, Major General Domingo Tutaan, AFP spokesman, told reporters on Wednesday the military will look into the new appeal memorandum filed by Acosta and Cudia's family.

"We are requesting now that we sit down on this together with the Office of the Judge Advocate General to look into the appeal memorandum itself and be able to look what is the most appropriate legal step to be undertaken after the appeal memorandum," he said.

Acosta, on the other hand, concurred with Tutaan's suggestion. However, if there will be no alternative remedies they would opt to ask for the court's intervention.

"Ang courts ay sakop din ang ating military establishment and no one is above the law, everyone every citizen at kahit sundalo, militar, o kadete ay may karapatan sa Bill of Rights," she told reporters.

"We informing through our appeal that Cadet Cudia should be allowed to graduate because the voting the results should have been acquitted not convicted," she opined.

Earlier, the Cadet's sister, on a Facebook post that garnered more than 17,000 shares before it was taken down, claimed that the Honor Committee's voted to dismissed the cadet has been rigged.

Meanwhile, Renato Cudia, the cadet's father, thanked Aldrin's supporters.

"Maraming salamat sa inyo sa mga taong nagbibigay ng lakas sa amin na itong kaso ay isulong," he said. "Unti-unti, nakikita po namin yung bukang liwayway."

CHR to continue investigation

For her part, Commission on Human Right Loretta Ann Rosales told GMA News Online in a text message that the commission will continue its investigation on Cudia's case.

"We are investigating now under CHR CAR (Cordillera Administrative Region)… We suspect [there were] human rights abuses such as the lack of transparency and due process," she said.

Although the Cudia family is "saddened" over the appeals board decision to bar the cadet from graduating, the family was overwhelmed by the out pouring of support for Aldrin Jeff.

"The family was saddened by yesterday's news, but personally I believe this might be a temporary setback," Aldrin's relative who refuse to be named told GMA News.

Netizens posted their reactions in a page dedicated for Aldrin Jeff Cudia:

"Go finish college somewhere else, find a job, be successful and show them that PMA is not the only way to go," Aristeo Elane Escobar said.

"Your fight for justice will give courage to those who also underwent the same to speak what they experienced… LOOKING FORWARD TO REFORMS IN THE PMA and the MILITARY SYSTEM," Marilou Ras-Llavan noted.

"Aldrin will not march among the graduates of PMA on March 16 but he will graduate proud and tall from a much higher and nobler university of life, having learned what it means to be truly educated," the cadet's foster parent Ched Estigoy Arzadon said. — LBG, GMA News