3 doctors acquitted of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide

MANILA (UPDATE)— A Baguio City court has found 2 Philippine Military Academy (PMA) cadets guilty of slight physical injuries in the case of Darwin Dormitorio, who died due to alleged hazing in September 2019.

Baguio City Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) Branch 1 Judge Roberto Mabalot sentenced Julius Carlo Tadena and Christian Zacarias to 30 days in prison and ordered them to each pay the Dormitorio family P100,000 in moral damages and P50,000 in attorneys' fees.

• PMA cadet Dormitorio died due to blunt traumatic injuries: autopsy report

Zacarias, initially charged with less serious physical injuries, allegedly kicked the right side of Dormitorio’s body in the morning of September 17, 2019, after Dormitorio failed to follow his instructions to get up from the bunk bed and stand straight.

Dormitorio had been holding his stomach and was in pain, after he was allegedly maltreated by other cadets in the previous weeks.

Tadena, on the other hand, was initially charged with serious physical injuries for allegedly using a taser on Dormitorio’s scrotum in the evening of the same day.

Dormitorio was found unconscious the next day, September 18, 2019, and was declared dead at 5:15 a.m. at the PMA Hospital.

A copy of the 92-page ruling is not yet available as of writing but Jose Adrian Bonifacio, lawyer for the Dormitorio family, explained that the court only convicted the 2 cadets of “slight physical injuries” because of the time required to heal the injuries.

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“Seven to 9 days po kasi yung healing period of his injuries (burnt scrotum and contusions at the right of his body) assuming that he was alive, as testified by the medico-legal experts. If above 10 days of healing period, then it can either be less serious or serious physical injuries,” he told ABS-CBN News.

3 DOCTORS ACQUITTED

Meanwhile, 3 doctors were acquitted of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide.

Capt. Flor Apple Apostol and Major Ma. Ofelia Beloy attended to Dormitorio when he was rushed to the PMA hospital on September 17, the day before he died, while Lt. Col. Caesar Almer Candelaria was the former commanding officer of the hospital.

The doctors initially found Dormitorio to have suffered from urinary tract infection and was discharged but autopsy results conducted by Apostol and Beloy later showed he died of multiple contusion hematoma, bruises, and abrasions.

Bonifacio said the court did not find any negligence on the part of the doctors in failing to detect Dormitorio’s injuries because the fourth class cadet himself denied he was beaten up.

“At the bare minimum, they treated Dormitorio, per findings of the court,” he said.

REACTIONS

The Dormitorio family said it was “satisfied” with the ruling against the cadets.

“It shows na ang ginawa nila ang nakapatay sa kapatid ko,” Dormitorio’s brother, Dexter, said.

They are not happy, however, with the acquittal of the 3 doctors but remain optimistic with the pending administrative case before the Professional Regulation Commission.

For their lawyer, there is still reason to laud the ruling.

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“Will take the conviction of the 2 cadets as a victory. However, the decision was also hard for my clients because we were not able to secure the conviction of the 3 doctors. But we need to move on and do our job,” Bonifacio said.

“The fight is not yet over. We still have a pending medical malpractice case against the doctors at PRC Manila. Additionally, what is important now is for us to monitor and terminate the proceedings at RTC 5 for murder and hazing against 3 cadets,” he added.

OTHER PENDING CHARGES

Tadena is still facing charges of hazing with fellow-PMA cadets Shalimar Imperial, Jr. and Felix Lumbag, Jr.

Imperial and Lumbag are facing separate charges for murder.

Both are pending before the Baguio City Regional Trial Court Branch 5.

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