ROTC in the Philippines by Eliseo Rio Jr

Eliseo Rio Jr 8:49am Feb 27 ROTC in the Philippines began in 1912 when the Philippine Constabulary commenced with military instruction at the University of the Philippines. The university's Board of Regents then made representations to the United States Department of War through the Governor-General and received the services of a United States Army officer who took on the duties of a professor of Military Science. Through this arrangement, the first official ROTC unit in the Philippines was established in the University of the Philippines on 03 July 1922. The National University, Ateneo de Manila University, Liceo de Manila, and Colegio de San Juan de Letran soon followed suit and organized their own respective ROTC units. In 1936, the Office of the Superintendent for ROTC Units under the Philippine Army was activated to supervise all ROTC units in the country. Around 80% of the active Officers in the AFP come from ROTC and only 20% are graduates of PMA. The ROTC is a much cheaper source of qualified AFP officers than PMA where around P500,000 a year is spent by the government per cadet scholar. Our government cannot afford to put up military academies to graduate the number of officers it needs for the AFP. With ROTC now being optional and very few are taking up Advanced ROTC, the AFP is now feeling its source of quality officers drying up. And we are talking here of just the regular standing AFP. What would happen if we have a national emergency where we have to call the Reserve Force? There will be a massive lack of officers and men who have at least basic military training to form our Reserves. Because of the National Service Training Program (NSTP) Act of 2001, we have more volunteers trained in sweeping streets than in handling a weapon. Now there are calls to totally abolish ROTC because of isolated cases where the ROTC program was abused. The recent PUP case of maltreatment of an ROTC cadet brings back memory of the death of UST ROTC Cadet Mark Chua on March 2001. This incident in fact initiated the NSTP law. But the logic in abolishing ROTC because of these incidents is as flawed as the logic of abolishing PMA because of incidents of cadet deaths due to hazing. You do not burn the whole house to get rid of a few rats. In the more than 100 years of its existence, the first Philippine ROTC Unit, UP ROTC, never had a record of an injury, much less a death, inflicted to its cadets due to maltreatment or hazing, yet it is affected by the law making ROTC optional and now the calls to abolish ROTC. While making ROTC compulsory again may now be no longer feasible and palatable, optionally taking up ROTC must be given incentives to compete with the other NSTP options. ROTC as an option is at a very big disadvantage because those who opt to take ROTC have to spend more money for uniforms and spend more time needed for military training, which is already more physically demanding than the other options. But the defense of our country is a compulsory obligation of all citizens, yet the means in preparing our citizens to perform this compulsory obligation was made optional. Since our government cannot afford to put up military academies to graduate ALL the officers needed for the AFP, then it should at least give incentives to those who opt to take up Advanced ROTC training, who are spending their own money for their education, uniforms and military training. An incentive would be assuring them that upon graduating from Advanced ROTC they become Commissioned Officers in the Reserve Force and if they so desire and after a qualifying procedure, be called to active duty to fill the vacancies in the AFP Corps of Officers that cannot be filled by graduates of military academies.