Survey: 53% of Filipinos buck mandatory ROTC

MANILA, Philippines — A survey conducted by the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) showed that 53 percent of students from their member-schools are against the proposal to make the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) mandatory for all college students.

The survey was conducted from April 3 to 24, with 20,461 respondents, of whom 65 percent or 13,210 were female and 35 percent or 7,251 were male.

Of the total number of respondents, 37 percent were Grade 11 students; 33 percent were Grade 12 students and 30 percent were college undergraduates.

“The survey showed that 53 percent of the respondents disagreed to bring back mandatory ROTC, with 32 percent of them saying they strongly disagree and 21 percent saying they disagree,” CEAP said.

Twenty-eight percent of respondents said they agreed, with 22 percent of them saying they strongly agree and only six percent saying they agree.

The organization of Catholic schools also said 19 percent were undecided, or could not say if they agree or disagree with the proposal.

Those who disagreed said they were against the return of ROTC because it would be an added burden to the students, and it would also be an additional expense for their families.

There are also those who said they are alarmed by the threat of violence and corruption, while others said the mandatory ROTC contradicted their religious beliefs.

Those who agreed with the return of mandatory ROTC cited the following reasons: for basic military training, physical exercise, disaster preparedness and civic engagement; they believe the program would teach the students about patriotism and nationalism; because it aims to compensate students, e.g., military uniforms, and the remaining said it would instill discipline.

CEAP revealed the results of the survey during the first Research Summit held last month at the Miriam College-Henry Sy Sr. Innovation Center in Quezon City.

Kabataan party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel yesterday reiterated that the revival of ROTC will only “worsen” campus militarization.

“It will spell campus militarization, added fees and load to students, institutionalized violence and abuse and the deprivation of students’ right to freely choose how they can serve the nation,” he noted. – Janvic Mateo