• Once a mandatory course required for tertiary level students, a law signed by former president Macapagal Arroyo made it part of the National Service Training Program.
• The ROTC is “designed to provide military training to tertiary level students in order to motivate, train, organize and mobilize them for national defense preparedness.”
Patriotism, nationalism, national defense, and disaster preparedness are among the reasons why government officials are currently pushing to reinstate the mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) for senior high school (SHS) students.
As of today, ROTC is not a mandatory course for students in the tertiary level, but is one of the three courses under the National Service Training Program (NSTP) which was established under Republic Act (RA) 9163 or the NSTP Act of 2001. Under that law, ROTC is one of the three NSTP programs — ROTC, Civic Welfare Training Service (CWTS), and Literary Training Service (LTS).
(Juan Carlo de Vela / Manila Bulletin File Photo)
The NSTP Act of 2001 was signed into law on Jan. 23, 2002 by former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
According to the NSTP Act, this is a “program aimed at enhancing civic consciousness and defense preparedness in the youth by developing the ethics of service and patriotism while undergoing training in any of its three program components. Its various components are specially designed to enhance the youth’s active contribution to the general welfare.”
NSTP amends the Citizen Armed Force or Armed Forces of the Philippines Reservist Act of 1991 or RA 7077, and National Service Law or Presidential Decree (PD) 1706, signed on Aug. 8, 1980.
Before the enactment of the NSTP Act of 2001, college students were mandated to take ROTC as stated under Sections 38 and 39 of RA 7077 — which aims to equip locals to become citizen soldiers.
ROTC in PH universities
In the NSTP Act, the “Reserve-Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC)” is a program institutionalized under Sections 38 and 39 of Republic Act No. 7077 designed to provide military training to tertiary level students in order to motivate, train, organize and mobilize them for national defense preparedness.”
Manila Bulletin interviewed Cluadine Doma, 22, a chemical engineering student from DLSU who chose to take ROTC due to her mother’s influence, who was a Citizenship Advancement Training (CAT) officer in high school.
(MB file photo)
“I was looking forward to gaining a similar experience in college through ROTC. The activities conducted by the 247th Naval ROTC Unit (DLSU-Manila) and the ROTC program in general really suited my interests,” she said.
Aside from furthering her skills, discipline, and love for the country, Doma also believed the program helped her gain meaningful connections and lasting friendships.
Meanwhile, MJ Blancaflor, 23, a journalism graduate from the University of Santo Tomas (UST), chose to take ROTC during her freshman year.
“I generally enjoyed my stint at the UST ROTC because I joined the Muy Leal unit and worked with new-found friends from other colleges,” she said.
Muy Leaf is the program’s journalism unit. Along with other student cadets, Blancaflor disclosed that she was able to cover and write stories for a magazine featuring events and personalities within the UST ROTC community.
According to the UP website, the UP ROTC unit requires students to undergo both academic and physical training. Under this, cadets take up subjects such as military leadership, disaster response, map reading, land navigation, jungle survival skills, infantry weapons, rappelling, small unit tactics, signal communications, and first aid.
Academic training is conducted in classrooms while physical activities are done on open ground, and obstacle courses, rope courses, and a live-ammo firing range are conducted in military camps outside the university.
Other activities are tree-planting, blood donation drives, relief drives, and medical missions led by the Corps of Sponsors.
(Mb file photo)
Other components of NTSP
The other two components of the NTSP are:
The literacy training service which is “a program designed to train students to become teachers of literacy and numeracy skills to school children, out of school youth, and other segments of society in need of their service.
And, the civic welfare training service which “refers to programs or activities contributory to the general welfare and the betterment of life for the members of the community or the enhancement of its facilities, especially those devoted to improving health, education, environment, entrepreneurship, safety, recreation and morals of the citizenry.”
Proposed revival of mandatory ROTC
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., in his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 25, said that the ROTC program for SHS is among his administration’s priority bills.
The Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Philippine National Police (PNP), Department of National Defense, and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are among the national government agencies supporting the proposed legislation of Marcos.