Photo from Office of Sen. Gatchalian
MANILA, Philippines — A Pulse Asia survey commissioned by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian has indicated that 69 percent of Filipinos support implementing the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) Program in senior high school.
The pollster asked 1,200 respondents if they agree or disagree with the proposed ROTC program for students in Grades 11 and 12, and 69 percent of them answered they agree while 16 percent disagree and 15 percent says they are undecided about the issue.
The survey was conducted from June 24-27.
In Metro Manila, 71 percent expressed support for the proposal. In the Visayas, Balance Luzon, and Mindanao, 78 percent, 60 percent, and 64 percent, respectively, registered their approval of the ROTC program for senior high school students.
The survey likewise showed that Classes ABCD firmly back the mandatory ROTC at 71 percent, while in Class E, 54 percent favor it.
During President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s first State of the Nation Address on Monday, he urged Congress to make the ROTC program mandatory in senior high school.
Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate committee on basic education, arts, and culture, includes the institutionalization and administration of the Basic ROTC Program for senior high school students as among his priority measures in the 19th Congress.
READ: Gatchalian: Passage of mandatory ROTC has ‘better chance’ now
Under his bill, “basic military training to motivate, train, organize and utilize students for national defense preparedness or civil-military operations” will be implemented, among other training.
Gatchalian’s proposal also notes that a learner who finishes the program will be registered in the Reserve Force upon reaching 18 years old, but it restricts students below 18 from taking direct part in hostilities.
Meanwhile, students who fail the ROTC program will not be eligible to graduate, except if he is “certified psychologically and physically unfit by the Armed Forces of the Philippines Surgeon General, have undergone or are undergoing similar military training, and those who are chosen as varsity players in sports competitions.”