Duterte-Carpio to push for mandatory military service

File photo
File photo

DAVAO City Mayor and vice-presidential aspirant Sara Duterte-Carpio said Wednesday, January 19, 2022, that she would propose the mandatory rendering of military service for all Filipinos 18 years old and above when she gets elected as vice-president.

In an online forum, Duterte-Carpio said she would make it possible by tapping the legislative wing of the government.

"Nakikita po natin ito sa ibang bansa, sa South Korea, Israel. Nakikita po natin doon sa kanila," she said.

(We see this in other countries like South Korea and Israel.)

"Hindi ROTC (Reserved Officers Training Corps program) lang na isang subject, isang weekend o isang buwan sa isang taon. Dapat lahat, kapag tungtong mo ng 18 years old, you will be given a subsidy, you will be asked to serve our country doon sa ating Armed Forces of the Philippines," Duterte-Carpio added.

(Not the ROTC that is just one subject, one weekend, one month or one year training. It should be something that when you reach the age of 18, you will be given a subsidy, you will be asked to serve the country through the Armed Forces of the Philippines.)

The ROTC, which was previously the mandatory military training for college students, was made optional in 2002 following the death of Mark Chua, a University of Sto. Tomas student who was allegedly killed after divulging corruption allegations in the program.

It is now one of the three components of the National Service Training Program, along with Civic Welfare Training Service (CWTS) and Literacy Training Service (LTS).

Despite being mandatory, the Article 2, Section 4 of the 1987 Constitution mandates that “the government may call upon the people to defend the State and, in the fulfillment thereof, all citizens may be required, under conditions provided by law, to render personal military or civil service.”

President Rodrigo Duterte, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief now Senator Ronald Dela Rosa earlier expressed support to the mandatory military service.

In a Twitter post, one of Duterte-Carpio’s opponents in the government post for the May 2022 national elections, former party-list representative Walden Bello, slammed her proposal, saying it only shows that she is a “dictator-in-waiting” like his father.

“Like father, like daughter. Duterte’s legacy was to arm people and tell them to kill. Now his daughter wants to do it to the youth as well,” he said.

In response, Duterte-Carpio said in a statement that Bello is an “ungrateful citizen” for not seeing the value of those who risk their lives in order to protect the country.

She said she hopes the country’s youth will not end up like Bello.

"If only Mr. Bello did not stop at what he has been so stuck in over the past many years -- dictatorship in the Philippines, something that we know is a lie in the present time -- he would have a better understanding of what I truly stand for," she said in a statement.

"The obsession over dictatorship in this country is as ancient as the belief that the youth have no actual important role in building a nation that is progressive and peaceful," Duterte-Carpio added. (SunStar Philippines)

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