House Bill (HB) No.6687--which according to critics is legislation seeking the return of mandatory inclusion in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program--has been approved on third and final reading in the lower chamber.

The bill, which is officially titled "An Act Instituting a National Citizens Service Training Program (NCSTP) in All Public and Private Tertiary Education Institutions, Repealing for the Purpose Republic Act (RA) No.9163, Otherwise Known as the National Service Training Program Act", garnered 276 affirmative votes during plenary session Thursday night, Dec 15.


Four House members voted in the negative, while one abstained during nominal voting.


The measure was approved on second reading that same afternoon.The House leadership then announced on the floor that the bill had been certified as urgent by President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.


This means that the measure could be passed on third reading that same day. Normally, a bill passed on second reading must wait three days before the House could carry out a vote for third reading.


The bill calls for the establishment of a two-year NCSTP that will be mandatory for all students enrolled in undergraduate degree programs in all public and private higher education institutions (HEIs), including those enrolled in technical-vocational education and training (TVET) programs or courses of Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).


One of HB No.6687’s objectives is to “enhance the capacity of its citizens to mobilize and perform their constitutional duty to render personal military or civil service to the in times of calamities and disasters, national or local emergencies, rebellion, invasion or war” through the program.


“The NCST shall be administered to cover undergraduate and postsecondary TVET students for at least four (4) semesters or two hundred forty (240) hours over two (2) school years, unless otherwise allowed by the CHED (Commission on Higher Education) or TESDA,“ the measure read.


House Speaker Martin Romualdez, one of the bill's principal authors, hailed the passage of the bill.


“The House of Representatives has been working really hard – day in and day out – to pass many important pieces of legislation that we all believe will contribute immensely to nation building. And the NCSTP bill is one of them,” Romualdez said.

The agencies tasked to implement the NCSTP are CHED and TESDA, in consultation with the Department of National Defense (DND).


Upon completion of the NCSTP, these “citizen-cadets” shall be deemed as NCST graduates and will be incorporated in the National Service Reserve Corps (NSRC) that will be created under the measure and the AFP Reserve Force.


“It (NSRC) shall be civilian in nature and shall be a source for volunteers and conscripts in times of national or local necessity, calamities, emergencies, disasters, or armed conflict to perform non-combat and non-military duties and services as the President or the appropriate local sanggunian may deem necessary,” the measure further read.