ROTC abolition opposed

Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes rejected yesterday calls for the abolition of the Reserved Officers Training Course (ROTC), saying the time may come when the country will need the reservists’ services.

But Reyes said he supports the restructuring of the ROTC to "make it responsive to the changing situation in the country."

"Off hand, my position is we have to make adjustments in the ROTC to make it responsive to the changing situation. ROTC is mandated by the National Defense Act that was passed in 1935 when the world was gearing up for war. It is no longer the prevailing situation in the country," he said.

College students are demanding that the ROTC be scrapped after the brutal slaying of ROTC cadet Mark Chua of the University of Sto. Tomas in Manila.

Chua is believed to have been killed for exposing the alleged extortion activities of ROTC officers in his school. He revealed that cadets who do not want to undergo military training usually pay ROTC officers to receive passing grades. Reyes admitted the ROTC was already obsolete. "It is a problem waiting to be addressed. Chua’s death only highlighted it," he said.

The Armed Forces has posthumously honored Chua and has urged that his death should not be used to justify the ROTC’s abolition because it was an isolated case.

Reyes said the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is not about to give up ROTC because of lack of manpower.

"We only have 113,000 soldiers. The AFP is constant at its strength and we are confronted by the problem of the New People’s Army (NPA), secessionist and Abu Sayyaf groups," he said.

Reyes, however, said the AFP could not accommodate all the 250,000 ROTC cadets for lack of budget.

"I am entertaining the idea of taking in only 25,000 cadets every year whom we can give proper training, allowance and other benefits. With this, we’ll have smaller but higher quality reserve force," he said.

Reyes said he supports the proposal to make ROTC an optional course for college students.

There are pending bills in the Senate and House of Representatives seeking to allow ROTC students to choose among military training, law enforcement service and civil welfare service.

"With this, we’ll have a reserve force that really loves military work. We don’t’ need to train all the 250,000 cadets so our training officers can concentrate on their other duties," he said.

Meanwhile, youth groups scored the administration of the University of Sto. Tomas for threatening student leaders with disciplinary action for leading calls to abolish the ROTC.

"On one hand, the UST administration has expressed assent to calls for the abolition of the ROTC. On the other hand, it has warned student leaders that it will not hesitate to discipline them," said Cristina Palabay of the National Union of Students of the Philippines.

The successful protests staged over the past two weeks in five Metro Manila universities has encouraged militant youth groups to form a nationwide network that would push for the ROTC’s abolition, according to Rey Asis of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines. — Cecille Suerte Felipe, Rommel Bagares