OFFICIAL FINDINGS OF THE COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS 1. “Preliminary Findings of CHR Investigation re: Cadet Cudia’s Case in the Philippine Military Academy” – which found the following material facts: a. That on the third night of the trial and after deliberation, the Presiding Officer (Cadet 1Cl Salvacion) asked the voting members if they were ready to vote, and after said members said they were ready, the recorders distributed the ballot sheets for them to write their vote (guilty or not guilty) and to justify their vote in writing; and they submitted their ballots to the Presiding Officer who counted the votes and announced the result which was 8 Guilty – 1 Not Guilty. b. As a result of the 8-1 vote, the Committee Chair (Cadet Mogol) called the voting members to the Chamber. c. The chambering is not in the written procedure. d. The 8-1 vote was intentionally omitted in the minutes of the proceedings. This appeared to be deliberate, considering that the Recorders themselves admitted that there was an announcement by the Presiding Officer of the 8-1 vote but they felt that it should not be included in the minutes. Like the voting members, the recorders then insisted that this was because the 8-1 vote is just an initial vote, which is contrary to the written rules as to the responsibility to record the entire proceedings before the Honor Committee. e. Likewise, the resort to chambering was deliberately excluded from the minutes of the proceedings. f. There is no such thing as initial voting in the written rules. g. The decision in a case before the Honor Committee, such as in the Cudia case shall be by secret balloting. h. On the first day of the fact-finding/inquiry of the Commission on 11 March 2014, all the voting members including Lagura admitted the 8-1 vote (8 guilty, 1 not guilty). Lagura denied before the Commission that he informed Commander Tabuada that he was pressured to change vote. i. On the other hand, Commander Tabuada reaffirmed as to the truthfulness of the content of his Affidavit that sometime in the morning of 23 or 24 of January 2014, he was in his office when Cadet Lagura entered his office and had business with his (Tabuada’s) staff. When Cadet Lagura was about to leave he called him, “Lags, halika muna dito,” and he approached me and I let him sit down in the chair in front of my table. I told and asked him, “Talagang nadali si Cudia ah… ano ba nangyari? Mag-tagalog or mag-Bisaya ka.” He replied “Chinamber ako sir, bale pina-justify kung bakit NOT GUILTY vote ko, at na-pressure din ako sir kaya binago ko, sir.” So I told him, “sayang sya, matalino at mabait pa naman” and he replied “oo nga sir”. j. Commander Tabuada, when informed that Lagura told the Commission earlier that he did not tell Tabuada about being pressured, Tabuada maintained before the Commission that what he stated in his Affidavit executed on March 6, 2014 and subscribed and sworn to before the CHR Officer, it is the truth. k. Likewise, Cdt 2CL Jocson testified that Cdt Lagura voluntarily admitted to her and Cdt Cudia of his Not Guilty vote and that he was pressured to change his vote. l. The Honor Committee did not observe the sanctity of the ballot—8-1 vote, the voting members insisted that it was just an initial vote. The written rule does not speak of any initial voting. m. Thus the Honor Committee violated the right to due process of the accused Cadet Cudia. n. The Honor Committee did not follow their own written rules on investigation and trial.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 14:43:29 +0000
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