Monday, July 14, 2008 RDC 7 committee urges PGMA to prioritize bill reviving ROTC
REGIONAL planners are urging President Arroyo to prioritize the bill reinstating the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC).
House Bill 5460, authored by Rep. Eduardo Gullas (Cebu, 1st district), if enacted into law, would repeal Republic Act (RA) 9163 or the National Service Training Program (NSTP) Act of 2001.
The Regional Development Council (RDC) 7 Development Administration Committee (DAC), in a resolution, also asked Gullas to include amendments to the draft measure.
The committee said Gullas’ bill should include the enhancement of the ROTC program, such as the inclusion of female college students, the review of the ROTC curriculum to make it relevant to disaster preparedness and the supervision of the program by the academic institution in coordination with the Commission on Higher Education.
The DAC cited Section 38 of Republic Act 7077 or the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Reservist Act, which states that military training for students enrolled in colleges and universities should include a course in ROTC to “motivate, train, organize and mobilize” the youth for “national defense preparedness.”
Reservists are tapped by the state to respond to national emergencies, disasters and calamities. The program was believed to be effective in “instilling discipline among youth.”
But the House of Representatives passed RA 9163 to establish the NSTP, which made ROTC an optional course.
The NSTP aimed at enhancing civic consciousness and defense preparedness among the youth through intensive training on three optional factors—ROTC, Literary
Service and Civic Welfare Training Service.
All higher, technical and vocational education institutions were required to offer at least one of the three optional factors.
But since the passage of RA 9163, the number of ROTC enrollees and graduates has declined.
The decrease in the number of ROTC graduates raised concerns over the sustainability of the AFP reserve manpower supply and the capacity of the government to mobilize rescue missions.
This resulted in the filing of HB 5460, which is seeking to reinstate the mandatory ROTC course in all private and public colleges and universities. (GMD)
