SC upholds PMA verdict dismissing cadet for lying

MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court on Tuesday, February 24, affirmed the dismissal of Cadet Aldrin Jeff Cudia from the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) in 2014 for violating the school’s honor code.

In an en banc decision penned by SC Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta, the High Court said the military institution has its own Honor Code that has to be respected, Rappler learned.

The Court noted that lying violates the military institution’s code.  

The PMA’s Honor Code binds the cadets to the following principle: “We, the cadets, do not lie, cheat, steal, nor tolerate among us those who do so.” The honor system is managed by the cadets themselves. 

In 2014, the PMA Honor Committee dismissed Cudia for lying about his explanation for his tardiness in class, an act that the committee of cadets said violated the Honor Code. (READ: Did Cadet Cudia lie?)

He was supposed to graduate with honors in March 2014. 

Cudia protested the decision, with his family using social media to explain his side and PMA alumni weighing in. Cudia said he found it unfair to be punished for being only 2 minutes late in one class. The honor committee however said he lied when he tried to explain his tardiness.

The controversy prompted the Armed Forces chief of staff to order a review of the decision and led to a meeting between Cudia and his family and President Benigno Aquino III. (READ: 50 cadets once left PMA for honor code violations)

In the end, Cudia failed to graduate.

His family went to the Supreme Court twice last year: First when they asked the Tribunal to order the PMA to allow him to graduate pending the review of the case; and second when they asked the Court, in March 2014, to annul the PMA Honor Committee decision.

The Court did not act on the first plea, merely asking all sides to respond but by then the academy had already held its graduation ceremony. The second petition was dismissed by the SC justices when they met on Tuesday, a source said. – Rappler.com