VP-elect Sara Duterte hopes mandatory ROTC training will be in priority legislative agenda

This undated file photo shows ROTC cadets reporting to their officers at the Sunken Garden of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City. (Photo by LYN RILLON / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President-elect Sara Duterte – Carpio expressed hopes Monday that mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) training for will be included in the priority legislative agenda of the Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. administration.

“Executive and legislative agenda will be decided between the President and Congress so I hope that will be included since marami namang (there are many) pending bills dyan sa  (in) Congress with regard to that,” Duterte-Carpio said in a press briefing in Davao City.

“Iba-iba ang pangalan, iba-iba ang titles. So sana masali siya (They have different names and titles, so I hope it can be included),” she added.

In January, Duterte-Carpio said that if she gets elected vice president, she would push for mandatory military service for all Filipinos reaching the age of 18 – male or female.

Vice President – elect Sara Duterte – Carpio

In May, the Duterte-Carpio camp said there were no discussions yet with the Department of Education regarding making ROTC mandatory.

Aside from being the Vice President, Duterte-Carpio will also serve as education secretary under the Marcos Jr. administration.

In 2002, military training was made optional through the National Service Training Program (NSTP) Act of 2001 (Republic Act No. 9163).

Calls to abolish mandatory military training were fueled by the killing of University of Santo Tomas sophomore cadet Mark Welson Chua in 2001 after he exposed corruption in his school’s military training program.

gsg