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BY ADRIAN STEWART CO and STEPHEN LOUIE CHECA
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Monday, April 24, 2017
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SAN JOSE, Antique – President Rodrigo Duterte gave the Filipino youth two choices – the revival of the mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) in college or compulsory enlistment into the country’s Armed Forces.
Facing thousands of Palarong Pambasa athletes at the newly-renovated Binirayan Sports Complex yesterday afternoon, Duterte urged the youth to take the ROTC, which he plans to make a requirement again to earn a baccalaureate degree.
“Who else will defend you? America will not die for you. Kayo ang magpakamatay sa bayan. Kayo ang magsakripisyo,” Duterte told his young audience, citing threats to the country’s security such as terrorism.
At present, ROTC is no longer mandatory for college students but an optional program component of the National Service Training Program (NSTP), a civic education and defense preparedness program for college students.
“You have to go back to ROTC,” Duterte insisted during the opening ceremony of the 60th Palarong Pambansa that Antique province is hosting for the first time.
The decision to make ROTC optional was short-sighted, he told around 7,000 elementary and high school athletes plus 5,000 coaches and school officials from 18 regions gathered in the middle of the Biniyaran Sports Complex.
It’s either mandatory ROTC is revived “or would you rather that I come up with a law on conscription” like in other countries such as Israel, Duterte told his Palaro audience.
In Israel, the length of conscription or compulsory service in the military is two years and eight months for men (with some roles requiring an additional four months of service), and two years for women.
“I’m working on a law to restore the ROTC to instill discipline and patriotism on the youth, and also so you can defend the country when the time comes,” said Duterte.
Republic Act 9163 or the NSTP Act of 2001 signed by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Jan. 23, 2002 was Congress’ answer to the clamor for change in the ROTC program following a tragedy – a death of a member of the ROTC unit of the University of Santo Tomas in 2001 after exposing alleged corruption within the UST ROTC unit. The incident set off a series of protests against the ROTC.
ROTC will instill love of country and good citizenship among the youth, said Duterte, adding that other countries have military training programs for the youth.
During the election campaign period last year, Duterte broached his plan to revive mandatory ROTC to augment government forces in the face of Chinese aggression in the disputed West Philippine Sea or South China Sea.
In his 2016 State of the Nation Address, the President made a policy pronouncement to strengthen the ROTC program to instill love of country and good citizenship among the youth, and to make it mandatory once more.
Duterte told his Palaro audience those who have undergone ROTC will teach civilians “kung magkagulo tayo” how to handle guns.
He urged the youth to have a sense of discipline and become responsible citizens.
Develop love for the country, he said, because today’s youth would be the ones leading the Philippines in the future.
The arrival of Duterte, who was joined by his common-law wife Honeylet Avanceña and daughter Kitty, was one of the highlights of the opening rites of the 2017 Palaro.
In the kick-off rites that lasted for three hours, two-time Olympic long jumper Elma Muros carried the torch and many-time tennis champion Marian Capadocia of Antique lit the cauldron in two touching parts of the opening spectacle.
Organized and governed by the Department of Education (DepEd), the Palarong Pambansa aims to promote Physical Education (PE) and sports as integral parts of basic education for the youth to become responsible and globally competitive citizens of the country.
It also aims to inculcate in their minds the spirit of discipline, teamwork, excellence, fair play, solidarity, sportsmanship, and other inherent values, and promote and achieve peace through sports.
In addition, it targets to widen the bases for talent identification, selection, recruitment, training and exposure for elementary and secondary students to serve as athletes’ roster of the National Sports Associations for international competitions./PN
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