Duterte visits boost soldiers’ morale

The frequent visits of President Duterte to soldiers deployed on the frontlines help build rapport between the troops and their commanderinchief, Defense Secetary Delfin Lorenzana said.

Less than two months in office, Duterte has visited troops in Mindanao, the Visayas, Southern Tagalog and Central Luzon.

“The morale of the troops is now very high because we have visited the troops on the frontlines,” Lorenzana yesterday said.

The President had met soldiers of the Southern Luzon Command ( Solcom) in Lucena City, Quezon; the Davao City-based Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom), the Cebu- based Central Command (Centcom); Tarlac-based Northern Luzon Command ( Nolcom) and Zamboanga City-based Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom).

On Tuesday the President also paid a visit to the wounded and sick soldiers confined at the Armed Forces of the Philippines Medical Center in V. Luna, Quezon City where he ordered the construction of a new building for the patients.

Talking directly with the wounded and sick, the President later told the troops not to render him jobless by launching a coup.

“I hope you won’t get mad if we’re doing the right thing. You might launch a coup d’etat, just call me in Malacañang and say, ‘Hoy, Duterte, leave your office, we will take over,’” he told the soldiers and medical staff.

While there’s no exact figure on the number of votes that President Duterte got from the military during the elections, a majority of the troops voted for him.

Lorenzana gave assurance that under the present dispensation, the Presidency is safe from any military misadventurism.

Lorenzana said that there is a need now for the AFP to fill the country’s dwindling pool of military reservists.

This disparity, he said, could be addressed through the revival of the mandatory Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) in all colleges and universities nationwide.

“The pool of military reservist officers as well as reserve enlisted personnel is dwindling and we are running out of military officers from the reserve force. We need to do that ( revive mandatory ROTC training),” Lorenzana said.

Military reservists have played a key role during calamities as they are being deployed as first responders in times of man- made and natural disasters like earthquakes, widespread flooding, typhoons and fire.

Aside from the Philippine Military Academy ( PMA), military reservists serve as the major source of officers as most of them are called to active duty.

“I have so many classmates during my ROTC days at Notre Dame in Cotabato. I have classmates now with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). We both underwent ROTC training,” Lorenzana said.

Congress repealed the law requiring all male college students to take ROTC in 2001 amid public outcry over the death of a cadet of the University of Santo Tomas at the hands of Army trainers.