By Aaron Recuenco
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) sees the revival of the military training program for senior high school students as an effective way to nurture nationalism and instill discipline for the future generations.
This, as the military welcomed Tuesday the approval of the House of Representatives on the mandatory Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) for Grade 11 and Grade 12 students.
(MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
AFP spokesman Brig. Gen. Edgard Arevalo said they hope that the Senate would follow suit after the overwhelming support of the House of Representatives on the military training program.
“The AFP has been a consistent advocate of a military training program that shall form part of the school curriculum because that will help nurture nationalism and patriotism to the youth,” said Arevalo.
“ROTC envisions to instill discipline and sense of purpose; respect for the laws and the authorities; and obedience to rules and regulations to students in a military training environment,” he added.
Interestingly, the ROTC program was dragged into some controversies before, including allegations of corruption and hazing, the most controversial was the death of Mark Welson Chua who was allegedly killed after exposing irregularities in the ROTC program of the University of Sto. Tomas.
His death led to the passage of the National Service Training Program law, which serves as an option for the ROTC.
But after the victory of President Duterte, the Department of National Defense (DND) had pushed for the revival of the mandatory ROTC program for senior high school students.
It was approved by Duterte and was supported by the House of Representatives under House Bill 8961.
Arevalo said that the revival of the mandatory ROTC program would serve as an effective tool to prevent recruitment of students by the New People’s Army and its alleged front organizations.
“No to the teachings of local communists and their minions who are wolves in sheep’s clothing! They enter school premises or are already inside school grounds in search for fertile minds. Idealist young men and women whom they can plant the seeds of discontent and hatred and later on exploited and manipulated to lead NPA’s to fill the dearth of their cadres—to the detriment and suffering of parents who bear all the sacrifices and hardships in sending their children to school in the hope of a bright future,” said Arevalo in a statement.
He then urged the parents not to listen to the arguments being raised by some militant groups against the revival of the mandatory ROTC program.
“Today’s young citizens need to be trained to become able and responsible citizens ready to respond to government’s call to render personal, civil, or military duties in times of calamities and national emergency as envisioned by the 1987 Constitution Article II Section 4, Declaration of Principles and State Policies. They need to be exposed to the rudiments of basic soldiery no matter brief (four semesters) to help develop and hone their leadership potentials and character,” said Arevalo.
“Parents and students, therefore, should not listen to the noise that Partylist groups like Kabataan, Gabriella, et al. that Jose Maria Sison acknowledged to be CPP-NPA allies. Such links were confirmed by surrenderers who were former NPA members and cadres,” he added.
Arevalo also assured the parents that they would assign competent training officers and enlisted personnel with clean records.
“The AFP commits to assign as trainers officers and enlisted personnel with no criminal, civil, or administrative case involving corruption or other malpractices so that they will provide good role models to the students,” said Arevalo.