The Department of National Defense (DND) “fully supports” the revival of the mandatory Reserve Officers Training Course (ROTC) in higher education institutions (HEIs) which is now being discussed by lawmakers.

This was the assurance given by Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. on Saturday, Jan. 28, following an outburst by Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa at a hearing on the proposed legislation that would make ROTC mandatory in colleges and universities.

“The DND fully supports and greatly appreciates the enthusiasm of our legislators led by Sen. Ronald dela Rosa in pushing for the law and we commit to take an active part in the legislative process through our full cooperation and inputs, whenever and wherever they are needed,” Galvez said in a statement.

At a hearing of the Senate Committee on Higher, Technical, and Vocational Education last Wednesday, Jan. 25, dela Rosa appeared to have been irked by DND Undersecretary Franco Nemesio Gacal when the latter expressed concern on the revival of the ROTC since he said it would entail the service of 9,000 to 10,000 military personnel for 2,400 universities and colleges nationwide just to train the students.

The manpower needed is equivalent to the size of two infantry divisions that could cover the entire Mindanao, Gacal explained, as he implied that the military force may be overwhelmed by the challenging task.

Dela Rosa, when presented with the empirical data, exclaimed: “Kung ganoon ang attitude ng defense establishment natin, i-hinto na natin ito. Balik na tayo sa NSTP kapag ganoon ang gusto niyo. Pinag-uusapan natin ‘to ROTC tapos kayo pala sa defense, ayaw pala ninyo (If that is the attitude of our defense establishment, let’s just stop these talks. Let’s go back to NSTP if that’s what you want. We are talking about ROTC but it shows that you, in the defense, don’t want it).”

But according to Galvez, the DND and the Armed Forces of the Philippines have already coordinated with the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd), and they already crafted the proposed concept on how the ROTC program will be ran.

“We can implement this using a ‘phased approach’ where we will have pilot and simulation runs in selected universities, while preparing our personnel, logistical and budgetary requirements for its full implementation,” Galvez shared.

He said part of the proposed concept is the preparation stage where the curriculum will be developed, the training implementers will be selected; the personnel, logistics, and budget will be planned; and pilot volunteer schools will be chosen based on the results of an evaluation on their facilities and capacities.

The next part will entail the pilot implementation of the mandatory ROTC in select, volunteer schools.

Once it is done, the expansion of the program will be implemented to different regions, and an evaluation and fine-tuning will be carried out before it is fully implemented in all schools nationwide.

“The projected timeline from enactment of the law to initial implementation is two to three years, while full implementation can be done in five years,” Galvez stated

“We assure Senator dela Rosa and our distinguished lawmakers that we will be ready to start the program when the law is passed and it will be diligently implemented in coordination with our partner agencies and institutions including the private sector organizations in order to ensure its success,” he stressed.