Feature: CODE OF HONOR By Rene F. Antiga The dismissal of cadet first class Aldrin Jeff Cudia from the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) is a clarion call to those who are lying through their teeth in order to cover up their misdeed. It doesn’t pay to lie, cheat and steal or tolerate any of these acts even if you happen to be the salutatorian of the class. The PMA’s Cadet Review and Appeals Board (CRAB) has found him guilty for violation of the honor code after he entered a class two minutes late and lied to justify his tardiness. A code of honor is held sacred by any institution worth its name such as the premier military school in Fort Del Pilar. About two years ago, almost the same thing happened to five graduating students from St. Theresa’s College (STC) in Cebu City. The school barred the students from joining the graduation rite for posting their pictures in Facebook in a skimpy attire while holding glasses of wine and sticks of cigarette. Fortunately the nuns didn’t give in to public pressures citing as reason that based on the school’s rules and regulations the girls were found guilty of indiscretion. In Don Bosco, we had a strict code of discipline imposed by the Salesian priests that we followed military style without any question asked. Any infraction of the rule is heavily dealt with regardless of whether you happen to be a son of a famous politician or an orphan plucked out from the asylum. Strict discipline is the hallmark of the congregation and that sets it apart from all the rest of the schools in town. An institution worth its name has to maintain a higher standard of excellence to its students by imposing a stringent code of discipline. Even the underworld crime organization has its code of honor imposed upon its members that any violation of its sacred oath will be meted out with a just penalty – death sentence. No one cries of human rights violation. No one howls a protest of due process. Hell with the so-called constitutional right. A crime syndicate sets its own rules. According to its guiding principle, betrayal is the worst crime of all and death is the appropriate punishment for it. Code of honor is a system of rules and regulations that measures man’s honesty and integrity on his beliefs and actions. There is no gray area in its interpretation. It’s either a person is honorable or a disgraced individual. In the case of the PMA fiasco, some naïve lawyers cited the so-called violation of the constitutional right of the accused to due process as reason why he should not be dismissed. The parents even cited that one member of the Honor Committee erred in issuing a verdict against their son. While their position is understandable, it is an undeniable fact that the accused was accorded the proper conduct of investigation based on the guidelines of the PMA Cadet Code of Honor. The greater stake here is to protect the honor and integrity of the PMA as an institution. The case of the PMA cadet is no big deal. The way the investigation is going in the pork barrel scam, it is expected that some ‘honorable gentlemen’ from the Senate and the House of Representatives will soon follow suit. Already some of them have resorted to gutter tactics to divert the attention away from their culpability of the crime. The art of lying and cheating have become the mantra in the august halls of Congress. By the way, ‘lest we forget, there is one who even reached the highest pinnacle of power who lied, cheated and stole from the people’s hard earned money and look at her now. She is languishing in the Veterans Memorial Hospital for breaking the code of honor. ### 20 March 2014
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 08:38:47 +0000
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