BY MARIA ELENA CATAJAN
BAGUIO — Fifteen PMA cadets, including 13 new
entrants, have been taken to the AFP Medical Center (formerly V.
Luna Hospital) after a rash of pneumonia and other minor
ailments claimed the life of plebe John Limuel Burcer.
"All are okay and can be brought back to the
PMA, but we insisted that they stay for a whole week to finish
all laboratory tests," PMA spokesman Col. Ricardo Nepomuceno
said on Thursday.
Burcer died of severe pneumonia at the AFPMC
on May 8 after undergoing treatment at the PMA and at the Baguio
General Hospital here while the 15 cadets were directly brought
to the military hospital in Quezon City on May 13.
"Burcer was brought to the Baguio General
Hospital because he needed to go to the ICU," Nepomuceno said.
Burcer was among 288 new cadets recognized in
ceremonies in April.
PMA officials have ruled out foul play in the
death of the plebe and discounted negligence as the cause of the
weakening of the resistance of the 15, two of whom were third
class cadets.
Information chief Captain Dennis Solomon said
PMA hospital chief Lt. Col Edwin Bautista cited the weather,
physical stress and bacterial infection as the cause of the
weakening of the cadets.
New cadets are subjected to rigorous physical
and mental conditioning before they are formally welcomed into
the corps of cadets in June.
Burcer of Quezon City studied for three
semesters at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines in
Sta. Mesa before he was accepted into the military school.
His parents were not immediately informed he
had been confined at a hospital here.
"The autopsy results showed he died of infection," Solomon
said.
