Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel on Tuesday, Dec. 6, called on Filipino youth to reject what he called a mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) “in disguise” as a joint committee hearing approved the substitute bill for House Bill (HB) 6486, or the “National Citizens Service Training (NCST) Program Act.”
This as Gabriela Party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas also warned against the “railroading” of the proposed measure’s passage after it was inserted at the last minute during Tuesday’s agenda of the House Committees on Higher and Technical Education and Basic Education and Culture.
“We call for the youth to make all possible efforts, online or face-to-face, to express our concerns and rejection of the mandatory ROTC program! We will also continue to represent all concerns and questions the youth may have on this measure in future hearings in the Congress,” Manuel said in a statement.
“We urge the Filipino people, especially the youth, to reject this proposal to instill a culture of violence and corruption in schools and register our call for safe school opening and access to quality education,” Brosas added.
The consolidated measure’s lead bill—HB 6486—was authored by House Speaker Martin Romualdez, Zamboanga City 2nd District Rep. Manuel Dalipe, and Tingog Part-list Reps. Yedda Marie Romualdez and Jude Acidre.
Although the proposed measure said it would only require a mandatory NCST program and an optional ROTC program, the Kabataan Party-list lawmaker objected to its approval and moved to be excluded from co-authorship of the measure.
“HB 6486, while appearing on the surface to be different from the other measures proposing mandatory ROTC, keeps the essence of what the youth and students reject from the imposition of mandatory ROTC: it still mandates military training and mobilization under the AFP, and puts NSCT trainees under the authority of ROTC cadets,” the lawmaker said.
READ: NCST, ROTC bills’ consolidation OK’d by House panel
He also raised alarm on plans to establish a National Service Reserve Corps (NSRC) that will be called in the event of armed conflict, “implying that the Filipino youth will participate in the military efforts of the State, even if it will be under non-combat roles.”
Manuel maintained that the NCST Program Act is mandatory ROTC in disguise because of provisions on citizen soldier training (Section 7), NCST graduates as National Service reservists and AFP reservists (Section 13), sourcing volunteers in case of armed conflict (Section 21).
The youth-oriented party-list group held a protest with other groups at the North Gate of the House of Representatives also on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Brosas lamented that amid an educational crisis, lawmakers are bent on passing the ROTC program instead of addressing issues in the sector.
In a separate statement, she mentioned former ROTC cadet Mark Welson Chua, a student of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) who was found lifeless in Pasig River.
His death was linked to his expose of alleged corruption in the ROTC unit of UST.
“Malinaw na ang kulturang pinalalaganap ng ROTC ay kultura ng karahasan, impyunidad at korapsyon na gustong ilagak sa kaisipan ng mga kabataan (It is clear that the prevailing culture of ROTC is culture of violence, impunity, and corruption that they want to be inculcated in the minds of the youth),” Brosas said.
“In Gabriela Women's Party, we are firm in our stand that institutionalizing military trainings will never inculcate patriotism among the youth - it will only make young women even more vulnerable to sexual abuse by ROTC officers,” she added.
The lawmaker rejected patriotism as reason for the program.
“Kahit saang larangan pwedeng ipakita ang pagmamahal sa bansa, hindi sa ROTC lang. Hindi pinagpipilitan ang patriyotismo - likas ito sa atin bilang mga Pilipino (No matter what field, we can show love for the country, not only in ROTC. Patriotism is not forced—this is innate in us as Filipino),” she said.