THE REVIVAL of mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) for senior high school students came up again not only as the flavor of the month but will soon be indeed mandatory.
And as most advocates for its revival say, it is due mainly to the current situation i.e. lack of discipline and nationalism among the youth and the peace and order scenario.
First things first, before the uninitiated gets lost in translation let’s define our title’s main topics: Conscription and ROTC.
From that free online encyclopedia a.k.a. the internet:
Conscription – “compulsory enlistment for state service, typically into the armed forces”
ROTC is an abbreviation for Reserve Officers’ Training Corps: – a training programme for university students, graduates of which become commissioned officers in one of the armed forces.”
While most of us are quite familiar with ROTC, particularly the male population, as one way or the other we have gone through it in university, conscription is not so common a term in these islands. For some it’s just something they came across in a book a film or the news, mostly though probably cannot tell the difference between a fig tree and conscription.
The unpleasant experience most of us had in university called ROTC is just that – an unpleasant memory that we all thought our sons will no longer go through in university as it is no longer a compulsory requirement for graduation.
In 2001 then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed into law Republic Act 9163 or the NSTP Act of 2001 which effectively removed ROTC as a mandatory requirement for graduation.
This was the result of the natives up in arms against ROTC as it has become irrelevant at that time and a major source of corruption and abuse resulting into deaths of several students who were taking ROTC.
It seems that all the unpleasantness and bad taste associated with ROTC is poised to make a major comeback and torment the ultra-sensitive Frappuccino-infused millennials. Excerpts from the May 22, 2019 issue of Panay News:
House approves mandatory ROTC
The House of Representatives approved on third and final reading a measure which made
Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) mandatory for senior high school students.
In a 167-4-0 voting on Monday, congressmen approved House Bill 8961 which mandates the institutionalization, development, training, organization and administration of basic ROTC for Grades 11 and 12 in both private and public schools.
The approved measure requires students to undergo basic ROTC program as a prerequisite for graduation.
Exempted from undergoing the program are students who are physically or psychologically unfit as certified by the Armed Forces of the Philippines surgeon general or his medical officer, those who have undergone or are undergoing similar military training, students who were chosen to be part of the school’s varsity, and those exempted for valid reasons by the Department of National Defense (DND).
“The ROTC aims to inculcate the spirit of nationalism, nation-building, and national preparedness among the Filipino youth,” the measure said.
“It also aims to instill patriotism, love of country, moral and spiritual virtues, respect for human rights, and adherence to the Constitution,” it added.
The bill ordered the Secretary of National Defense, in consultation with the Department of Education and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, to prescribe the organization and operational manual of ROTC units.
However, public and private universities, colleges and similar higher learning institutions will not be mandated to offer and provide a training school for advanced ROTC program.
Sounds good but, I am very apprehensive about the plan to revive ROTC, that program is very much open to abuse and corruption. We are all aware that in any kind of requirement here in these islands i.e. diplomas, drivers license, barangay clearance, some enterprising individual in charge will see it as way to make personal profit.
And the abuses? We all know from experience that those ROTC Commandants and Tactical Officers are not real soldiers; mostly they are reservists who like to play “soldier boy”.
These “soldier boys” are mostly losers who take it out on the ROTC cadets and inflict “cruel and unusual” punishments for whatever infractions they see fit or imagine.
In terms of teaching the ROTC cadets the “art of warfare”, I don’t think so. For two years the ROTC cadet spends it marching up and down the field and doing squats and push ups.
If ever they teach you about “real soldiering” the basic rifle they use is vintage World War 2, meaning they belong in a museum not a training field for modern warfare. What good will it do you if you’re proficient in the M1 Garand rifle when the standard rifle now is the M4 carbine? Even the M16 Armalite is now vintage Vietnam War.
Above all, the most prevalent attitude towards ROTC is that nobody takes it seriously; it’s just something you have to grin and bear to be able to graduate with minimal if not zero sense of nationalism.
If President Rodrigo Duterte wants a well-trained citizen’s army, then it has to be the real thing; not some university requirement that everybody hates. Well not all as there are those misguided souls who take up advance ROTC and become officers thinking this could make them popular in campus, especially with the girls.
What we need is a well-trained citizen’s army of qualified natives, I mean here both male and female to defend the republic. A conscription program following the successful model of Israel, South Korea and Singapore is what we need to defend these islands and not ROTC. (brotherlouie16@gmail.com/PN)
