Diploma program for ROTC cadets — CHED

MANILA— The Commission on Higher Education is eyeing the creation of a certificate program at the higher education level if efforts to revive military training in senior high school succeed, the body's OIC Prospero De Vera said.

De Vera said that CHED was already in the process of creating a short two-year program that would serve as a “pathway” in higher education institutions for senior high school students who would join the Reserve Officer Training Corps.

“We’re creating a short two-year program for those who want to go to ROTC to finish with a diploma in disaster management or something like that,” De Vera said in an interview with Philstar.com.

The CHED's acting head said that they had already formed a technical panel for the program, which had already crafted a preliminary curriculum for the short course.

He added that they were just waiting for fate of the law that the administration would submit to Congress to revive ROTC and could insert their short course as a statute’s provision. They could also launch it as a standalone program, he said.

ROTC has not been abolished but has been optional since the launch of the National Service Training Program, where students can opt to perform community service instead of military training. ROTC was mandatory for male college students until the murder of University of Santo Tomas cadet Mark Chua in 2001 at the hands of cadet officers whose alleged corruption he exposed in the university newspaper.

De Vera reasoned that the counterpart program on the tertiary level was needed as it would be difficult to mobilize students who took ROTC in times of emergencies if there was no similar mechanism in higher education institutions.

De Vera also clarified that CHED was not imposing a new law with proposals to conduct mandatory drug testing among college students.

He said that such tests could be conducted by universities and colleges with or without CHED’s directive.

“What CHED is doing is to make sure that when they do drug testing in accordance with the requirements of law and you have one system for state universities. That is why we issue guidelines to standardize it,” he said.

De Vera also expressed confidence that the problem with the delays in the release of the allowances of the Commission’s K to 12 scholars could be solved by the end of February.

“We have basically solved the problem. I am confident that in two to three weeks there will be no complaints,” he said.

Upon assumption of the office, he conveyed a sense of urgency to this staff and changed the design of the program.