69% Support Mandatory ROTC Revival – Pulse

Sixty-nine percent of Filipinos are in favor of reviving the mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program in schools, according to a Pulse Asia survey commissioned by Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri in December last year.

Zubiri shared with Senate reporters on Tuesday, April 9, the results of the survey that was conducted from Dec. 3 to 7.

In the survey, 69 percent of respondents agreed with the proposal to make the ROTC program mandatory “for all young people” – the highest at 79 percent in Mindanao, followed by 74 percent in the Visayas, 67 percent in Metro Manila and 63 percent in balance Luzon.

Meanwhile, only 17 percent disagreed with the proposal, while 14 percent were undecided.

In another Pulse Asia survey conducted from March 15 to 19 last year and commissioned by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, 78 percent said they agreed with the proposal to make the ROTC mandatory “to all students in college,” while 13 percent disagreed and eight percent were undecided.

Zubiri asserted that his commissioned survey is proof that there is public support for the return of the mandatory program, which was made optional in 2002 following the death of a cadet.

“Let’s give the bill a chance,” he said last Monday, April 8, after his oath-taking as an Army reserve lieutenant colonel, adding that the bill has enough safeguards to prevent hazing.

Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, who sponsored the measure on the floor, on Tuesday thanked Zubiri for his promise to prioritize its plenary interpellation in May to speed up its approval.

Dela Rosa, a former Philippine National Police chief, said he is confident that it will be passed by a “slim margin,” expressing hope that it will get third-reading approval before President Marcos’ State of the Nation Address in July.

Mandatory ROTC is made more relevant because of the present threat of China’s aggressive actions in the West Philippine Sea, where Filipino fisherfolk and Navy and Coast Guard vessels were blocked and bombarded with water cannons by the Chinese Coast Guard and maritime militia, according to Dela Rosa.

“The Senate President is a patriot who realizes the significance of this measure in light of the recent developments in the West Philippine Sea, wherein we, as a threatened nation, should be prepared for any eventuality,” he said.

As to fears that the ROTC program would be abused again, the senator said measures are in place in the bill, such as the creation of a National Grievance and Monitoring Committee composed of officials from the Departments of National Defense, Justice and the Interior and Local Government; the Commission on Higher Education and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

The national committee is tasked to investigate complaints of abuse, violence or corruption as reported to the grievance board in every ROTC unit, according to the Senate bill.

ROTC was made optional in 2002 upon the passage of the National Service Training Program law.

Calls to abolish the mandatory program followed the death of University of Santo Tomas student Mark Welson Chua, who was killed by his fellow cadets in 2001 for exposing corruption in the program.