MANILA, Philippines—It all boils down to the love of country.
For Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO) administrator Ernesto Carolina, the war heroes who shed tears and blood, should be an inspiration for the youth to imbibe patriotism that is already dwindling.
Most of the Filipino youth today, for instance, do not take up the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), Carolina said in an interview with INQUIRER.net recently.
The ROTC is a military program for college students aimed to gear them up for military service.
“In other countries, they are obligated to serve for two years in the military. In South Korea, superstar Rain for instance, he cropped his hair for it and he was proud of it,” Carolina said.
Classes in school today only teach general history. “The battles we are proud of like in Kiangan [are missed out], the last stronghold of the Japanese.”
That is why the PVAO has also produced books that elaborate the heroism of our warriors. They are distributed to public libraries and schools in an attempt to educate Filipinos and promote national pride.
The Philippine Military Academy, the country’s top military school, also has to resort to strong advertising in order to entice applicants, Carolina noted.
A member of PMA Class of 1970, he said that during his time, the top graduates of their classes were drawn to entering PMA.
“Today there are still a few but it wasn’t like before that the top students of their classes are attracted to join PMA,” he said.
In 2013, there were about 12,000 who took the PMA Entrance Exams, and 364 made it. They will be part of PMA Class of 2018.
At present, the Armed Forces of the Philippines is 125,000-strong, and is seen as one of the weakest in Asia amid its attempt to attain a minimum credible defense. The Philippine military’s pressing concerns are insurgency and issues on territorial defense, such as the flaring tensions in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).
‘Preparing the future defenders’
“These are the indicators we have to invest in the future. We call this ‘preparing the future defenders,” Carolina said.
The PVAO is aspiring to be more than just distributors of pension. “We want to make sure the veterans won’t be forgotten,” Carolina said.
An overhaul on the commemoration of veterans is being done by holding a more interactive veterans week involving the youth and other sectors, as well as fixing shrines.
“[Not many] Filipinos know bout the Bessang Pass, they only know Mt. Samat. We also have Balantang,” Carolina said.
The Bessang Pass in Ilocos Sur was the last place where the Filipinos and Japanese fought during World War II. Balantang in Iloilo, was the stage of a bloody battle led by General Macario Peralta Jr. that liberated Panay from the Japanese.
“These are the reminders we come from a great nation, we have a very historic past. We have many heroes. The sense of pride is rooted from the love of country,” he added.
For Carolina, it is important that their mission be “redefined” to a higher level.
“In the past our mission was just shallow, to distribute pensions. If that’s the case then our organization should have been renamed Philippine Veterans Pension Office,” he said.
“We hope to be able to align ourselves with our counterparts,” he said.
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