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[av_heading heading=’Mandatory ROTC and human rights violators’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”][/av_heading]
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Sunday, February 12, 2017
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ANAKBAYAN strongly condemns President Rodrigo Duterte’s recent approval of the mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) for grades 11 and 12 under the Department of Education’s contentious K-12 program.
Today state security forces are presiding over massive human rights violations and sowing state terror against the people in their conduct of the all-out war against the communist movement and murderous anti-poor “war on drugs.”
Making ROTC mandatory will put students under the custody of the most vicious human rights violators. Far from teaching nationalism or discipline, our youth will be trained under a fascistic outlook that normalizes rights violators and valorizes blind obedience to authorities.
Since the Martial Law era under the Marcos dictatorship, the ROTC has been notorious for recruiting students into the student intelligence network (SIN). The said organization is infamous for monitoring and conducting surveillance on pupils who are engaged in activism.
Not only does ROTC put the youth in harm’s way, but also discourages them in engaging in political activities through an atmosphere of fear.
The said program ceased from being a required course in 2001 after the untimely demise of Mark Chua, a University of Santo Tomas ROTC cadet. Chua’s death is widely believed to be linked to his exposé of alleged irregularities in the ROTC.
In recent years, hazing victims from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, De La Salle University, University of Mindanao-Tagum College, etc. have also surfaced to file complaints against ROTC officers for abuses.
The practice of hazing as a form of “conditioning” and implementing blind obedience towards their “seniors” has also been documented in other military and semi-military institutions such as the Philippine Military Academy.
In fact, it was the massive abuses of the program that led students to rise up in massive protests that led to the junking of mandatory ROTC. Anakbayan is resolute in saying that the ROTC program is fascist in character and must be abolished.
The Duterte regime and the military are dead wrong on insisting that it is needed in order to make nationalists and disciplined individuals. True discipline must be imbibed on the basis of principle, not fear.
Ultimately, true love of country could be expressed through joining the ranks of progressive organizations advancing the Filipino people’s rights and interests: for genuine land reform, nationalist industrialization, and genuine independence against neocolonial masters.
We call on all Filipino youth and people to stand against the return of mandatory ROTC and the rise of fascism and militarism under the Duterte regime. – EINSTEIN RECEDES, Anakbayan secretary general <anakbayan.org; Facebook.com/anakbayan; Twitter: @anakbayan_ph>
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