CHEd chair not yet convinced of need to revive ROTC program

IF PRESIDENT Duterte was able to grow up a patriotic and disciplined man without having to take the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program, then there may be other ways for the government to instill in its youth good citizenship values and love of country, according to Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) Chair Patricia Licuanan.

While she acknowledged that there was strong support behind the reimposition of the mandatory ROTC program in higher education, Licuanan pointed out yesterday that there was a need to carefully study the matter and possibly look for alternatives.

“I fully subscribe to the fact that developing love of country and patriotism can be achieved in many ways, not just through ROTC,” Licuanan told reporters during a roundtable discussion held at the agency’s head office yesterday.

As an example, Licuanan retold how during one of their Cabinet meetings, President Duterte himself “confessed” that he did not take the ROTC. But Mr. Duterte would still grow up a patriotic and disciplined man because of his mother, she added.

Licuanan noted that given certain issues and concerns regarding ROTC, such as the proliferation of hazing, those proposing for its return should be able to tell the public how different this program would be from a decade ago and what can be done to strengthen it.

She also pointed out that while they are doing the “staff work” on the ROTC program, it was “not a CHEd initiative” to reimpose it to college students, belying chief legal counsel Salvador Panelo’s recent statement that it was the agency that pushed for the program’s return. She added they were only following through on the program which Mr. Duterte mentioned in his first State of the Nation Address.

Based on their meetings, Licuanan said the President is “bent on reinstituting ROTC.”

For her part, she said that she needs “more information” on it.

For the meantime, Licuanan said what can be done is to have an impact study on the National Service Training Program and if there really is a decline in the country’s reservists force, which is the main point of the ROTC and is the concern of some groups.
Based on data provided to CHEd, the Philippines’ reserved force lags behind neighboring Asian countries. The country’s barely half-a-million reserved force pales in comparison with South Korea’s six million, Vietnam’s five million and China’s more than four million.