MILITARY officials yesterday said the revival of the mandatory Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) program will provide the country with a reserve force ready to respond to various threats.
President Marcos Jr. announced during his State of the Nation Address last Monday that mandatory ROTC for Grade 11 and 12 students is part of his legislative agenda.
Marcos said a mandatory ROTC program is needed “to motivate, train, organize and mobilize the students for national defense preparedness, including disaster preparedness and capability building for risk-related situations.”
Army chief Lt. Gen. Romeo Brawner said the revival of the mandatory ROTC is a “very important and urgent legislative agenda.
“This will provide the country with a trained and competent reserve force which is very important in the defense of our country, following the lessons that we are learning from the Russia-Ukraine conflict,” Brawner said.
Ukraine has tapped hundreds of thousands of reservists to help fight invading Russian forces. Russia has also sent reservists to invade Ukraine.
“This will also develop a sense of patriotism in our youth,” Brawner added.
The ROTC program became optional by virtue of Republic Act 9163 or the National Service Training Program of 2001.
The measure was passed by Congress months after the killing of University of Sto. Tomas student Mark Chua, who was abducted and killed for exposing anomalies in the ROTC program
“We will address the possible abuses by professionalizing our pool of trainers and enhancing the capacity of the Reserve Command of the Philippine Army,” said Brawner.
Acting Armed Forces spokesman Col. Medel Aguilar said the military has already instituted reforms to prevent abuses and corruption in the ROTC program.
