‘Despite mandatory ROTC, not everyone can become reservists’

MANILA, Philippines — While he may be in favor of bringing back the mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) for senior high school or college students, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro believes that not all of the country’s youth can be trained and taken in as reservist soldiers.

“It’s already a work in progress anyway, and we’re also working with the Senate on it. However, on my personal take, I think we also have to determine the adequate force structure of the reserve force. What is the size? How many do we need?” he told “The Chiefs” in a July 24 interview on One News.

Teodoro said mandatory ROTC is also something that the Department of National Defense would like to really push, considering that the Armed Forces of the Philippines needs about 2,000 2nd lieutenants in the Philippine Army alone.

“However, right now, we really have to determine how many of these trainees we can properly train and we can properly absorb in the reserve force,” he said.

Teodoro said it may even be more appropriate to name it National Military Training instead of ROTC because the latter implies an expectation of eventually becoming an officer, especially if one is a college graduate.

“Secondly, the concept of national service is not merely through military service. Concept of national service is equally important in the civil defense role because having said that there is a maximum reserve force that is ideal for your country, civil defense is equally important in times of crises, in disaster risk reduction, disaster response and rehabilitation,” he added.

“And this probably should also be inculcated in the educational system because it goes directly down to the barangay level and the community where you live. Your fire protection, fire brigades, emergency medical technicians, your air-raid wardens, your first responders. And I’d like to see an amalgamation of both civil defense and ROTC,” he said.