Inside DMST

Title

Inside DMST

Creator

Escober, Guido F.

Language

English

Year

1959

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

TNSTDE - DH1ST "big jump" from its star-studded sky to the purgatory of thirteenth. PEOPLE OF THE PHIUPPINES VS. ANDRES ORAIS. An incident which took place last June 20th, injected a little sensation into the drudgery of drilling under the heat of the sun. An officer and a cadet tried to convert the drill grounds at the BHSD at Mango Avenue into a boxing arena. This incident would have been passed as ordinary and trivial had not one of the adversaries brought his case to the attention of no less than the people of the Philippines. A Case of Insubordination: Cdt. Capt. Andres Orais, platoon leader of the first platoon of Hotel Co., calls it a clear case of insubordination. He was drilling his platoon when he noticed that Cdt. Palana was out of step. Desiring to imprint into the minds of his men the idea of uniformity and precision in every phase of military life, he called the attention of Palana. It so happened that at that particular moment, Palana was in no mood for appreciating corrections. (His appendicitis was giving him trouble, if he is to be believed.) He hurled epithets at Orais, who of course, resented the action. But his patience and leadership took the better part of him and the episode ended with a friendly handshake with Palana after a more or less spirited verbal tussle. But Palana, according to Orais, probably misunderstood his gesture of friendship as a m.ark of cowardice. And lost no time in telling the other cadets about it. One Cdt. Rosaroso reported to Orais, and together, they confronted Palana, who, according to Orais, exhibited overt acts of fighting. His patience, already on edge, altogether evaporated. He forgot himself and the next thing he knew, he was raining blows on Palana, who ultimately landed at the Southern Islands hospital with several injuries despite the intervention of cooler heads. While there, he filled out a complaint for physical injuries. Victim oi Malicious Fabrication: Palana vehemently denied having told anybody anything to the effect that Orais was a coward. That was a purely malicious fabrication, he said. Neither did he display overt acts of fighting when confronted by Orais and Rosaroso. On the contrary, he was completely amazed at the charge Rosaroso made. But before he could make any explanation to Orais, the latter rained blows on him. After effects: The controversy, therefore, hinges on two important questions of fact, namely, whether or not Palana did actually say what Rosaroso claimed he said, and whether or not Palana did what Orais claimed he did when confronted by him and Rosaroso. When this matter was brought to the attention of the DMST, Capt. Jose M. Aquino immediately ordered Lt. Gustilo and later, Lt. Creer, to conduct a full-dress investigation of the case and submit their findings to him. But before the investigators could act, the parties to the controversy were summoned by the police for preliminary investigation. At the time of this writing, Orais and Palana were already on friendly terms. Palana withdrew his complaint, and the controversy, having been settled amicably between them, was relegated to oblivion before anybody could render a decision on the merits. July 4th: With peace restored, the Corps was in high spirits when came the time for the celebration of the glorious fourth. The ever-ready third batallion of Cdt. Lt. Col. Guido Escober, with the band and the Corps staff, represented San Carlos in the grand military parade at two o'clock in the afternoon of Saturday. The USC guns too, manned by our artillery boys with Capt. Aquino acting as Convoy Commander, added glamour to the unit. The parade started from the Fuente Osmena-Capitol road and ended up at Ploza Independencia, where a literary-musical program with intermissions of political speeches, culminated the day's affair. # Commandant Jose M. Aquino has shown greater initiative this year in trying to turn out better trained ROTC cadets by implementing, through his cadet officers, a new set of rules designed to revolutionize military training in San Carlos. Hitherto, ROTC cadets knew only gunnery and the nomenclature of weapons upon graduation. Through field lectures given under the commandant’s directive, San Carlos hopes to turn out more intelligent and well-rounded army officers. It is not uncommon to find, even among officers, physicallypresent-but-mentally-absent elements during briefings. The idea of checking on how much an individual officer has absorbed from the lecture after every session, will undoubtedly separate the dreamers and glamour boys from the earnest ones. The appointment of Lt. Ramon Bataclan as Regimental Tactical Officer will immensely benefit the Corps. Lt. Bataclan was, prior to his attachment to San Carlos, instructor of the 4.2 mortar section of the Heavy Artillery Unit of the Philippine Army for six months. Capt. Aquino, recognizing the fact that his men are responsible enough to know their obligations and human enough to feel the sense of shame and humiliation that goes with every offense committed against the military rules, has done away with the practice of punishing erring cadets in front of their units, and instead has made full use of the demerit system under which any cadet who has reached his full quota of 50 demerits or 3 absences is automatically dropped from the roster and has relied mainly on the honor system for the maintenance of discipline. # JULY-AUGUST, 1959 Pa g e 31

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