The revival of mandatory Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) would “pollute” and push back Safe Spaces advocacy efforts in schools, a campus gender equality group on Wednesday, March 8 said.
Members of safe spaces advocates, Enough is Enough picketed a university in Manila on International Women's Day to demand better mechanisms and protocols in handling sexual abuse and harassment as cases continue to rise despite the Safe Spaces Law and called on the Senate to scrap the ROTC bill.
Enough (EIE), in time for the celebration of 2023 International Women’s Day (IWD), has called on the Senate to scrap the bill that intends to make the ROTC mandatory for students at the tertiary level.
“Not unless, all of a sudden the culture within our armed forces alters and denounces fascism, militarism and patriarchy, the culture of sexism and fear which we are struggling to combat and defeat in our campuses will perpetually be embedded,” said Kate Leonor of EIE.
EIE also expressed concern that instead of “inculcating discipline and good citizenship” as the proponents of the mandatory ROTC claim, the bill will “fuel misogyny and sexism and will push back a decade worth of efforts to make learning institutions safe spaces.”
The group has been in the front row of the struggle to make academic institutions and has been calling for sweeping reforms since students and alumni from Philippine High School for the Arts and Bacoor National High School went public with stories of abuse inflicted by their teachers.
“Even if our senators claim that the MROTC bill is guaranteed abuse-proof and has safeguard provisions, the militaristic and misogynistic tradition and mindset of the officers and rank and file of the armed forces will pollute institutions that should champion academic excellence and academic freedom,” Leonor said.
Meanwhile, EIE also called on the Department of Education (DepEd) and Commission on Higher Education (CHED) headed by Vice President Sara Duterte and Prospero de Vera III, respectively, to reconsider support for the mandatory ROTC.
Duterte and De Vera, who are both supporters of the revival of the ROTC program, were urged by EIE to “focus on the education crisis and not deflect their neglect and incompetence to the lack of discipline and patriotism of the students.”
The education agencies, Leonor said, should focus on “actively purging our campuses of predators and enablers.”
“The recent uptick in cases of abuse and harassment dwarf their efforts and highlights their lack of political will to truly address the issue,” Leonor said.
EIE has been calling for sweeping reforms in the education sector to stamp out campus predators and their enablers.
Among these include the filing of criminal and administrative cases against violators; their teaching licenses revoked and perpetually banned from employment that involves vulnerable sectors; an establishment of a national registry of offenders and that academic institutions provide legal, psychosocial, and financial support to student victims.