A cadet of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) died on Wednesday in a case that is still being investigated amid suspicion that the fatal incident could be related to hazing.
Cadet 4th Class Darwin Dioso Dormitorio, a native of Cagayan de Oro, was declared dead at around 5:15 a.m. while doctors at the academy’s hospital were trying to revive him.
An initial report said Dormitorio’s cause of death was cardiac arrest secondary to internal hemorrhage.
PMA Superintendent Lt. Gen. Ronnie Evangelista refused to provide further details about Dormitorio’s death, saying the incident is undergoing investigation as they also await an official medico legal report.
The academy head also said that the cadet’s parents, who were already at the PMA, do not want the case of their son to be “publicized,” which they were honoring.
Dormitorio, of the Echo Company, was found unconscious by a relief sentinel, who was an upperclassman at Room 209 of the PMA’s Mayo Hall Annex at around 3:40 a.m. on Wednesday.
The report said that the relief sentinel immediately informed 2nd Class Neckiel B. Termil, the squad leader of Dormitorio who, in turn, notified a cadet by the surname of Lucas, the Echo company commander.
Both ordered the relief sentinel to call for the academy’s ambulance, which arrived at 3:55 a.m. and took Dormitorio to Fort del Pilar Station Hospital within five minutes.
“Upon arrival at the emergency room, 4CL Dormitorio was attended to by the Medical Officer of the Day [MOD], Cpt. Flor Apple A. Apostol. The MOD was then assisted by Maj. Beloy in executing medical procedures to revive the unconscious 4CL cadet,” the report said.
“On or about 18 0515 September 2019, 4CL Dormitorio was declared dead by the MOD,” it added, indicating “initial findings for the cause of death: cardiac arrest secondary to internal hemorrhage.”
According to the report, the commandant of cadets ordered the restrictive confinement of the “upperclass and 4CL squadmates” of Dormitorio and are now undergoing investigation.
The Mayo Hall had also been cordoned off and “declared off-limits and considered a crime scene.”
Evangelista said the public should wait for the results of the investigation before concluding that Dormitorio’s death was related to hazing, a practice that military officials said no longer exists and had been disavowed at the country’s premier military institution for years.
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