A Brief Position Paper Against the Reinstatement of the Mandatory Reserve Officers Training Corps Program

Taken from the Student Council Approved Resolution No. 2007-25, adopted July 11, 2007

With the pending bill in both Houses of Congress, we, as Lasallians, do not support the plan to reinstate mandatory ROTC and repeal the National Service Training Program due to the following reasons:

1. We believe that repealing the National Service Training Program and making ROTC mandatory curtail the freedom of students in choosing how they best serve the country.

2. “Patriotic ideals and love for country” are not only imbibed in military training, but also in the Civic Welfare Training Service (CWTS) component of NSTP, where students take part in nation building and social transformation.In De La Salle University alone, since the implementation of NSTP, an average of 1,554.5 individuals per term was helped through basic education and social services to the community. Moreover, 82.22% of students who had enrolled in CWTS said that the program was effective in instilling social action (The NSTP-CWTS Experience of De La Salle University: Teaching Minds, Touching Hearts, Transforming Lives, 2007).

3. ROTC is not the only program or venue where students learn discipline. In fact, it is assumed that the youth are already disciplined and mature individuals when they enter the tertiary level.

4. Mandatory ROTC may not prove to be effective in assisting the Armed Forces of the Philippines in maintaining peace and order in the country, especially in times of war. The rationale behind this is that not all members of the reserves may be prepared because of the involuntary service and the lack of passion to learn the military activities. In addition, these members have their own comparative advantages and wasting their skills in other activities may not prove to be helpful.

5. We are against the possibility that students may be used for brute force or hostile activities in the future.

We, as Lasallians, recommend the following proposals:

1. We ask for the administration of Higher Education Institutions, parents and students to release a stand regarding the pending bills on mandatory ROTC in the tertiary level to the concerned government

agencies.

2. We call on Congress not to repeal Republic Act No. 9163 or the National Service Training Program.

3. We call on the concerned government agencies to develop an ROTC program or course that will encourage and entice the youth to join the Armed Forces of the Philippines so that the number of ROTC enrollees and the number of armed forces may increase. The curriculum may include various leadership development activities that will equip the students for any leadership roles, voluntary adventure activities that will aid in the students’ training and physical fitness and other skills and classroom sessions that will develop patriotism, besides the education on military training, tactics and operations in the classroom and the field.

4. We also call on the concerned government agencies to develop incentive systems such as scholarships and lower expenses on the needed materials when enrolled in the ROTC program.

5. We encourage all Higher Education Institutions to conduct an objective orientation before the start of the school year that will brief the incoming freshmen about the benefits of joining the ROTC program and CWTS program.