A revived ROTC must serve the nation better

One of the things I personally asked then Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte when he was in Cebu campaigning for the presidency was whether or not he was amenable to have the Reserve Officers Training Corps restored and he told me that he was all for it. Well, two years into the Duterte Presidency, Pres. Duterte signed the approval for the revival of the ROTC for Grades 11 and 12 and in private schools nationwide. What can I say but thank you Mr. President for fulfilling your promise to revive the ROTC!

Of course, what we really got was not a revived ROTC yet, but rather that this issue will now be forwarded to Congress and the Senate and certified as urgent by Pres. Duterte as an amendment to Republic Act No. 7077 to make ROTC mandatory in our schools. Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said, “ROTC instills patriotism, love of country, moral and spiritual values, respect for human rights and adherence to the Constitution.”

I took four semesters of ROTC training; marching on the first semester, the service unit on the second semester, then the following semester I was second-in-command of the Military Police, and on my final semester I was assigned to the armory. In those years, the University of San Carlos had the best armory compared to other universities and colleges. We even had two 105mm Howitzer cannons, which is why my cousin, the late Rosendo “Nonoy” Dizon joined the Army and was assigned to artillery.

No doubt the two years of ROTC were my most unforgettable years. In fact, during my MP days, we used to guard Camp Lapu-Lapu whenever we held drills in the 3rd Military Area. I recall making coffee for a colonel assigned in Camp Lapu-Lapu, but forgot his name. Years later, I met then Pres. Fidel V. Ramos and in one of our meetings, he told me if I was ever an officer in the ROTC, I told him that I was only an MP. Then Pres. Ramos told me that he remembered my face serving him coffee…he was apparently the colonel whom I served coffee when he had a stint in Camp Lapu-Lapu.

But during the term of Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, ROTC was vilified because of the hazing of ROTC fraternity members, which then caused the ROTC to be abolished. But today, the fraternities haven’t stopped hazing its members, but the nation has been rendered weak because we do not have a mandatory ROTC program. Most nations require its youths to serve in military service for at least two years.

One problem during our ROTC days was that the sergeant assigned to our schools became corrupt, giving out medical excuses slips to the scions of rich families. So when the debate in Congress starts, I would like to propose that if a student wants to be exempted from ROTC, it must only be for medical reasons, certified by an army doctor, their personal doctor, and the school doctor.

To make ROTC better today than it was during our day, we should include in their curriculum search and rescue missions, like looking for earthquake victims in the rubble or helping in conflagrations or being deployed to typhoon-ravaged areas where warm bodies are needed to help rescue people and restore order in the community.

When fire struck the Metro Gaisano Department Store, it took the emergency rescue services and the fire department several days to quell the raging fire. In a situation like that, the ROTC can be assigned in many areas, to cordon off the burning building, help man the traffic, and to help the fire department in keeping pressure on the fire.

So if the new ROTC is to be run more efficiently, it can assign ROTC cadets in several areas, like one group can be trained by the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation, or the Chinese Volunteer Fire Brigade, or the Cebu City Fire Department, aside from marching in Camp Lapu-Lapu. This should keep our ROTC busy.

Finally, I exhort Congress that our ROTC cadets must be taught live fire training with weapons that the Armed Forces of the Philippines use. Unlike in our time, we couldn’t fire our World War II-era rifles. But the students of today should be better equipped.

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For email responses to this article, write to vsbobita@ gmail.com. His columns can be accessed through www. philstar.com.