Why we must prioritize the return of ROTC

At least two vessels of the controversial Sulpicio Lines Inc. (SLI) have finally been given the go-signal to set sail… these are the M/V Princess of the Earth and M/V Cotabato Princess. As expected, even the slow return to service of SLI has drawn some flak, with no less than Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña saying that while he understood the economic considerations in allowing SLI to sail again, he pointed out “I’m deeply concerned about the safety of passengers. Mayor Osmeña advised passengers: “If the weather is safe, it is good. If the weather is bad, no matter what the captain says, don’t believe the captain.”

I guess Mayor Osmeña made that remark in the wake of findings by the Board of Marine Inquiry blaming the ship captain, Florencio Marimon, for judgment errors he made in allowing the M/V Princess of the Stars to sail when there was a typhoon in the offing; a reckless error that caused him his life and those of 800 other passengers on board his ship.

If Mayor Osmeña doesn’t trust Sulpicio Lines and isn’t afraid to tell the public about it, it is also because we never heard any mea culpas from the ship owners, after the BMI pinned the blame on the ship captain for that disaster. Twenty years ago, when a JAL 747 crashed in the mountains near Mt. Fuji in what has become Japan’s greatest air disaster, I still recall that the JAL president resigned in shame, even before investigators of the Japan Civil Air Agency and the National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) found out what caused the crash.

Sulpicio Lines experienced a world-record sinking of the M/V Doña Paz and the M/V Doña Marilyn and no SLI president resigned in shame for those disasters that caused the deaths of thousands of passengers. But then that’s Japan where honor or saving face is more important than an office position. And this is the Philippines where honor is something everyone wants to get but where many who are called honorable do not deserve the title.

Personally I would like to hear from SLI what kind of changes it has made in its maritime operations. Mind you, this is something so basic because ship passengers would like to know whether they would be riding a Sulpicio Lines vessel that has put measures in place improving the safety of its passengers. Alas, Sulpicio Lines is showing its eagerness to resume its operations, but its passengers would never know if it is coming back as a better-run shipping company or they would expect the worse.

* * *

The so-called Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) hasn’t been signed yet and we read in the news that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has already occupied many areas in North Cotabato. They are indeed quick in the draw… quick to get territory that does not belong to them. As of press time, the government’s ultimatum for the MILF to leave had expired, but whether this would shift into a shooting war… we can only hope and pray that cooler heads would prevail. Meanwhile, the residents of North Cotabato have been told to defend themselves “just in case.”

But how can the residents there defend themselves if they don’t even know how to use arms? This brings us back to the urgency and the need to return to our schools the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC). I am an ROTC graduate and if I am able to dismantle a caliber .45 pistol today (in my youth, I used to dismantle it blindfolded), I thank those years in the ROTC.

That we’re one of the few countries in the world that still have existing Maoist and Muslim extremist insurgencies and surrounded by potential foreign invaders, yet we no longer have any mandatory or compulsory military training for our able-bodied youth. This is why many of our young today have become members of fraternities, which are actually a cover for their gangland activities. But if the ROTC is back in our schools, when problems like what’s happening in North Cotabato erupt, you can bet that ROTC officers and cadets would be on hand to defend their towns.

Once again, I urge my good friend Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. to prioritize the Gullas bill seeking the return of the ROTC. Of course, by this we want a new ROTC taught to our cadets, where aside from the usual military training, they should also concentrate on disaster relief, which would be helpful during fires, typhoons, earthquakes and other disasters. Back to the problem in North Cotabato, it is time for the Arroyo administration to backtrack on this planned signing with the MILF and instead call for a constitutional convention (con-con).

* * *

For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.philstar.com. He also hosts a weekly talkshow, “Straight from the Sky,” shown every Monday, 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.