AFP expects 2 million reserves per year from ROTC revival

INQUIRER file photo

Around 2 million will be added every year to the reserve force of the Armed Forces of the Philippines once the law making the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) mandatory again is passed by Congress.

“Every year, if ROTC becomes mandatory, we expect an additional 2 million students from all universities,” Maj. Gen. Joel Alejandro Nacnac, deputy chief of staff for reservists and retiree affairs of the AFP, told a press conference in Camp Aguinaldo on Friday as the AFP observes the National Reservists Week..

According to Nacnac, the projected servicemen from the ROTC program will be classified as part of the “standby reserve” forces, who may be mobilized or ordered to active duty in times of national emergency or war.

They are different from the “ready reserve,” who may be called at any time to augment the regular armed force of the military “not only in times of war or national emergency but also to meet local emergencies arising from calamities, disasters and threats to peace, order, security and stability in any locality.”

As of June, the AFP reserve force was estimated at 1.2 million, composed of 71,000 ready reservists, 1.1 million standby reservists, and more than 15,000 affiliated units from other organizations.

Maj. Gen. Joseph Ferrous Cuison, head of the Philippine Naval Reserve Command, said they were employing the assistance of Philippine Navy affiliated reserve unit, composed of crews from fishing and shipping companies, in monitoring the West Philippine Sea.

“Right now, we cannot confront head-on the maritime militia of China, so what we do right now is just monitor. They report to us on what is happening there,” he said.