Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero has urged proponents of the bill seeking to reinstate the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program to present a scientific study that would validate that the current citizens’ defense program is a “total failure.”
Sen. Francis "Chiz" Escudero (Senate PRIB Photo)
Escudero said there needs to be a formal study based on facts to convince the public that there is a need to scrap the current National Service Training Program (NSTP), which was created under Republic Act No. 9613, is a failure before the reinstatement of the ROTC program.
“We were taught to march, we were taught to stand, we were taught to carry a gun, I didn't feel like I was equipped enough to defend my country,” Escudero said when he interpellated Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa on Senate Bill No. 2034.
“Can the gentleman furnish me a copy of a study, not merely the position of the chair, but a study that says NSTP actually failed,” he added.
SB No. 2034 primarily mandates that all students enrolled in not less than two-year undergraduate degree, diploma or certificate programs in Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) and Technical Vocational Institutions (TVIs) will undertake the ROTC for four semesters.
Under the current NSTP, both male and female college students are obligated to undergo one of three program components for an academic period of two semesters but they are free to choose which particular program to take.
The three components of the NSTP are the Civic Welfare Training Service (CWTS), Literacy Training Service (LTS) and the ROTC.
Dela Rosa, chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs and sponsor of the bill, reiterated his position that the NSTP law failed because “it is not producing the needed reserved force of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).”
The former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief also said the NSTP failed to achieve its envisioned goal to organize a national reserve corps that can also be mobilized in times of disaster and calamities, which the ROTC program also seeks to address.
But Escudero said there should be “a study with respect to number one, the success or if at all, the failure of the ROTC before the NSTP law; and number two, a study, a review, or findings based on evidence and facts that the NSTP was indeed a failure.”
“I have yet to see a study based on facts and evidence that indeed it is a failure, and indeed ROTC is better because you have to remember that ROTC is still a part of the NSTP at present,” he explained.
According to Escudero, SB No. 2034 should be backed up by formal studies if it will be passed into law and not just some informal statements from pro-ROTC advocates.