Women, LGBTQIA+, and youth groups intensified their objections to the possible resumption of the discussion of the mandatory Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) Bill on Monday.
There are now 29 bills filed for the reinstatement of mandatory ROTC. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. mentioned in his first State of the Nation Address, that he will be prioritizing the enactment of mandatory ROTC as one of his programs for the youth.
Gabriela Youth, Bahaghari, Salinlahi, and Girls for Peace highlighted the documented cases by the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) showing abuses under ROTC. The group pointed out how the ROTC program promotes a macho, sexist, homophobic, and violent culture as they cited the numerous instances of sexual violence during trainings.
“[The ROTC program] belittles these recurring cases and perpetuates impunity, as perpetrators of the said abuses are not punished,” the joint position paper read. “Making ROTC mandatory for senior high school students would only make them more vulnerable to discrimination, sexual harassment, even rape and other abuses.”
In House Bill 4500, also known as the ROTC Bill of 2022, basic ROTC courses will be institutionalized in Grades 11 and 12 in all educational institutions throughout the country. The program will focus on basic military training for national defense preparedness but adds that no student below 18 years old will take direct part in hostilities.
“In addition, schools have just opened after two years of lockdown and the government has yet to announce its roadmap for safe schools reopening,” the position paper read. “The education sector has remained vulnerable, especially with its merciless budget cuts.”
With the ongoing economic crisis, students and families will suffer from the additional expenses from ROTC such as uniforms, transportation, equipment, as well as tuition, the groups added. Mandatory ROTC will also burden teachers and faculty as they will shoulder more workload for which they will not assuredly be appropriately compensated.
The groups also fear that the program might institutionalize the presence of military inside campuses, which might heighten red-tagging against perceived government critics. One such instance was in 2006 when some ROTC officers red-tagged UP Diliman student-leaders who were campaigning against the 300-percent tuition fee increase.
“It only seeks to instill the youth blind obedience to command and authority,” the statement read. “It shirks critical thinking and willful embrace of principles, instead propagating the idea of “obey blindly or be violently punished.”
While ROTC claims to instill nationalism and patriotism, it has historically led to killings and other human rights violations. Since 1995, at least 14 cases of hazing, sexual abuse, physical assault, and murder were recorded according to NUSP.
The earliest recorded instance was in 1995 when an ROTC cadet from De La Salle University succumbed to injuries following hazing activities by cadet officers in Tanay, Rizal. University of Sto. Tomas ROTC cadet Mark Welson Chua was also killed in 2001 after writing an article exposing the corruption of the ROTC program.
Mandatory ROTC was then removed in 2001 due to the uproar after Chua's death. The National Service Training Program (NSTP) Act of 2001 was then implemented, which finally removed ROTC as a mandatory course in college.
In 2019, the discussion to revive mandatory ROTC was raised several times due to former President Rodrigo Duterte’s strong support. A house bill to revive mandatory ROTC passed the House of Representatives in 2019 but it never passed the Senate.
As an alternative, the groups are encouraging the government to allot more time on general education courses such as social sciences, history, and Filipino to help the youth develop nationalism and patriotism.
The groups also call for the strengthening of the NSTP to educate the youth on comprehensive community service, ecological services, disaster preparedness, and human rights education. NSTP is currently taught at the tertiary level and aims to promote civic consciousness and instill nationalism to increase their involvement in public and civic affairs.
“Educating the youth of the country’s rich history, raising their socio-political consciousness, and equipping them with the knowledge to better understand and address the basic problems of our society is the better alternative,” read the position paper. ●
