Monday, September 24, 2007 Defense chief bats for ROTC revival
DEFENSE Secretary Gilberto Teodoro is fighting for the revival of a mandatory Reserve Officers Training Course (ROTC) for college students following the reduction of reserved officers in the military which is detrimental to national security.
Teodoro said through the ROTC, which is among the biggest sources of the military reservists, the youth would be able to contribute to nation-building “more specifically through the strengthening of our reserve force.”
“Unfortunately, the ROTC program has been made optional and the manpower for which the Armed Force of the Philippines (AFP) reserve force taps its manpower from has been greatly degraded which has serious ramifications in ensuring our national stability and security,” he said.
The defense chief said his office and the AFP are organizing a dialogue with the concerned sectors to appraise them on the importance of a mandatory ROTC program. He added that they would enlighten them on the “strong need to strengthen our reserve force as we cannot afford a large standing army.”
Teodoro added that the National Defense Act or the Commonwealth Act (CA) 1 requires a large number of reserve force, who maybe called to active service in case of war and national emergencies, “because the military cannot afford to have a big number of soldiers”.
He said the AFP is now studying the possibility of providing scholarship programs to ROTC cadets in hopes of recruiting more students to join the military force.
He said under the proposed ROTC scholarships program, the qualified cadets would be commissioned directly as regular officers after college or serve as enlisted personnel.
The ROTC program was made optional following the passage of RA 9163 or An Act establishing the National Service Training Program for the tertiary students, amending for the purpose RA 7077 and Presidential Decree (PD) 1706 for other purpose in December 2001.
The law was passed months after Filipino-Chinese mechanical engineering student Mark Wilson Chua was allegedly abducted and killed by his ROTC soldier-instructors at the University of Sto. Tomas in March 2001.
Chua’s bloated and decomposing body -- with his face and head wrapped tight in a tape and his hands and legs hogtied -- was found floating in the river beside Jones Bridge in Manila, three days after he was abducted on March 15. (VR/Sunnex)
