Should ROTC be restored?

A proposal has been handed over to the House committee on national defense, seeking to restore the mandatory Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) and replace the National Service Training Program (NSTP) as part of the curriculum of college students. Cebu Rep. Eduardo Gullas recently submitted House Bill 309, calling for the abolition of the NSTP and the restoration of ROTC. It will be recalled that the ROTC was scrapped in favor of the NSTP in 2001 amidst brewing disillusionment over its content, the competence of its training staff and the corruption that often afflicted its individual units. Now, they want to rescind the NSTP and reinstate the ROTC. Just how significant will the restoration of the ROTC be to our country?

During World War II, ROTC products saw action for the first time. Cadets from different units in Metro Manila took part in defending Bataan; in the Visayas, 45% of the 75th Infantry Regiment of the US Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) were ROTC cadets from Silliman University; and volunteers from the Philippine Military Academy and different ROTC units made up the Hunter’s ROTC Guerillas, which took part in the resistance movement during the Japanese occupation. During the Marcos era, a program called the Rainbow Raiders – Sunday Soldiers, composed of students from different schools like UP and UST, was created. The unit formed the core of the “Liberator Battalion”. It saw action in places as far as Mindanao, even taking part in a 3-week peacekeeping operation in the Lanao provinces during the November 1971 elections. Members of the battalion reportedly garnered 9 citations for bravery during the operation.

History will tell us how the ROTC has produced, not just for our country but for other countries all over the globe, brave, heroic men and outstanding leaders in business and public service, who made great contributions to society and can be readily called and relied upon in times of dire need. Clearly, the importance of having disciplined teams of students who can be tapped during calamities or emergencies cannot be denied. However, charges of incompetence and corruption had hounded the ROTC for many years, leading to its cancellation and subsequent replacement by the NSTP. The planned restoration of the ROTC will surely encounter stiff opposition from its detractors.

On the other hand, advocates for the return of the ROTC argue that the NSTP is too lax. NSTP takes a shorter time for students to complete, needing to finish only one program for two semesters while ROTC is more rigid, requiring students to finish a two-year, four-semester program. Furthermore, NSTP does not instill in the youth the sense of national duty and patriotism that the ROTC program fosters. ROTC provides control and organization, better training and more importantly, increases the reserve officer corps that our country badly needs right now. Our military forces need sustained replenishment because of years of political instability, threats to our national security and the scourge of terrorism that have steadily depleted its ranks.

However, we must not do anything impulsively. We need to study thoroughly all the pros and cons of this issue and seek the views of all sectors concerned. No less than our national security is concerned.