FILE PHOTO: The Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) bill, which aims to revive the mandatory program, will be passed in the Senate, an optimistic Majority Floor Leader Francis Tolentino says on Monday, June 24, 2024. SENATE PRIB
MANILA, Philippines — The Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) bill, which aims to revive the mandatory program, will be passed in the Senate, an optimistic Majority Floor Leader Francis Tolentino said Monday.
“I believe we have reached a level of support where the ROTC program will be revived. I’m quite confident,” Tolentino said in a statement.
“The primary goal of the ROTC bill is to encourage and develop discipline and a deep sense of nationalism among our youth,” he added.
READ: Pulse Asia survey: 69% favor mandatory ROTC for all young Filipinos
A quick look at the upper chamber’s website would show that Senate Bill No. 2034, which seeks to make ROTC mandatory for tertiary students enrolled in higher learning and vocational institutions, remains pending on second reading as of June 24.
Tolentino said his proposed law does not mean that the Philippines is preparing for war, stressing that “[e]nacting this bill is timely and crucial for our national interest and future, with or without the conflict in [the] West Philippine Sea.”
According to the senator, a similar measure has already hurdled third reading approval by the House of Representatives, and it “will be included on the agenda” of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council meeting on Tuesday, June 25.
The Philippines’ mandatory ROTC was abolished following the death of then-19-year-old University of Santo Tomas (UST) student Mark Welson Chua.
READ: Dela Rosa sure about passage of mandatory ROTC bill in Senate
Chua, who allegedly exposed corruption in UST’s ROTC program, was found dead on March 18, 2001.
According to the UST’s student publication, The Varsitarian, Chua’s decomposing body was rolled in a carpet. His hands and legs were hogtied, while his face was wrapped with duct tape.
Not long after, Republic Act No. 9163, also known as the National Service Training Program (NSTP) Act of 2001, was signed into law.
The measure allowed students to choose from the following service components: ROTC, The Literacy Training Service, and The Civil Welfare Training Service.