ROTC needed for Phl security

Senator Ronald “Bato” De la Rosa maintained there is a need to equip Filipinos with the necessary skills to be prepared for whatever threats come our way by reviving the mandatory Reserve Officers Training Corps in the country.

De la Rosa on Tuesday presided over the hybrid hearing of the Revitalized ROTC Act Subcommittee on several measures seeking to reinstate the mandatory ROTC program in the Philippines.

“The demand for our readiness comes in all forms, and it is staring us right in the face. The question is, how do we respond to all of this?” said the senator.

De la Rosa, quoting famous Spanish novelist Miguel de Cervantes, emphasized that being prepared is already a “half victory” of battle.

Meanwhile, senators agreed to pursue reinstating the ROTC in college instead of pushing several bills filed seeking to also require ROTC in senior high school.

This comes after the Commission on Higher Education and several government agencies proposed a “consensus bill” that will institutionalize a two-year mandatory National Service Training Program and four-year optional ROTC curriculum for higher education students.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian tackled a comprehensive report suggesting that the Department of Education should focus more on addressing the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the decline in the proficiency of SHS students in English, Math, and Science subjects — which he described as “a much pressing problem” by the education sector.

“Instead, reinstate it at the college level because at the college level it’s already there through the NSTP (National Service Training Program) they are already being trained,” Gatchalian said.

“Those who want to be trained in ROTC are already being trained. So, we just need to expand it. By expanding it, obviously, we also need a budget to do that and those are the things that we can discuss here at the committee level,” he added.

De la Rosa was abrupt to agree but suggested the amendment of the Reservist Act — making it mandatory for all who are not able to go to college.