SEVEN of 10 Filipinos support a proposal to revive mandatory military training for college students, according to a Pulse Asia Research, Inc. poll.
Based on the poll commissioned by Senate President Juan Miguel F. Zubiri in December, 69% of Filipinos said young Filipinos should undergo the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC).
It added that 17% of Filipinos opposed the proposal to make military training mandatory, while 14% were unsure.
Across socioeconomic classes, the support for mandatory ROTC was at 65% among classes ABC, 71% for D, and 63% for E.
A similar Pulse Asia poll commissioned by Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian in March 2023 showed a 78% approval rate. In July 2022, 69% of Filipinos said ROTC should be revived.
Mr. Zubiri earlier said the Senate would prioritize Senate Bill No. 2034, or the proposed Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) Act, as soon as sessions resume by the end of the month. It is a priority bill of the Marcos government.
He issued the remark after being given the rank of lieutenant colonel of the Philippine Army Reserve Force at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.
He said senators would discuss the bill in May.
Senator Ronald M. de la Rosa, the bill’s sponsor, told reporters most senators favor the ROTC bill.
“I’m sure the bill will get passed if there was a vote now,” he said in Filipino. “But the support won’t be overwhelming.”
Opposition Senator Ana Theresia N. Hontiveros-Baraquel earlier said the government should boost funding for military modernization especially of the Philippine Navy instead of reviving the ROTC program.
She said tensions with China should not be used as an excuse to force students to undergo training.
Congress passed a bill in 2001 making ROTC optional after the death of Mark Welson Chua, a sophomore college student from the University of Santo Tomas (UST) who died in the hands of his senior officers.
He had exposed corruption in the ROTC program to the UST college newspaper. His body wrapped in a carpet was found decomposing in the Pasig River.
Human Rights groups have opposed the proposal, saying it could risk students getting abused and that it would promote violence and militarism in schools.
The College Editors Guild of The Philippines has said the ROTC had promoted killing, hazing, harassment, red-tagging and all other violence on young Filipinos in the past, calling mandatory student military training “fake nationalism.”
Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian in December 2022 filed a bill that seeks to revive a compulsory two-year military training program that will cover students in both public and private universities, colleges and vocational schools.
Under the version approved by several Senate committees, students with disabilities, those whose religion bars the use of firearms in serving the country and convicts are exempted from military training.
The bill will set up ROTC grievance boards in schools that will probe complaints of abuse, corruption and violence committed during military training. — John Victor D. Ordoñez
