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Palace lauds passage of bill reviving ROTC

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The Palace on Tuesday hailed the approval of a measure seeking to make the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps mandatory for senior high school students.

In a Palace press briefing, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo viewed the development in the House of Representatives as “good news.”

On Monday, lawmakers passed on third and final reading the House Bill 8961, or the proposed act mandating the “institutionalization, development, training, organization, and administration” of basic ROTC for senior high students nationwide.

“That’s good news. The President wants that passed,” Panelo told Palace reporters.

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With 167 affirmative votes, four against, and no abstentions, the lower chamber passed the measure mandating that ROTC will be a requirement for graduation for all students in both public and private high schools.

The Palace has previously said that President Rodrigo Duterte wants to bring back the ROTC program in academic institutions to discipline students and teach them the concept of nationalism.

The President even urged the Congress last November 2018 to enact the said measure, hoping it will “instill patriotism and love of country among our youth.”

For his part, Department of National Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana also lauded its passage in the House.

“The DND welcomes the approval of House Bill 8961 at the House of Representatives on the third and final reading today, 20 May 2019. The reinstatement of mandatory ROTC in Grades 11 and 12 will help instill the love of country, good citizenship, respect for human rights, and adherence to the rule of law,” Lorenzana said in a message to reporters.

“We thank our legislators for making the youth their priority. Now more than ever, we need the strength of an empowered Filipino youth with leadership, sense of duty and service, discipline, and leadership to sustain our nation’s growth and momentum,” Lorenzana said.

“I am greatly delighted by the passage of the ROTC bill in the House. Hopefully, the Senate will also pass it during this Congress so we can start implementing it this coming school year,” Lorenzana added.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), on the other hand, also echoed Lorenzana in welcoming the recent development.

“The AFP is a consistent advocate of a military training program that shall form part of the curriculum because that will help nurture nationalism and patriotism to the youth in schools,” AFP spokesperson Marine Brig. Gen. Edgard Arevalo said.

“Today’s young generation needs to be exposed to the rudiments of basic soldiery no matter brief to help develop and hone their leadership potentials,” he added.

“ROTC envisions to instill discipline and sense of purpose; respect for the laws and the authorities and obedience to rules and regulations to students in a military training environment,” added Arevalo, as he warned students to not be swayed by the teachings of local communists and their followers.

Arevalo said the left-leaning bloc composed of Partylist groups like Kabataan, Gabriela et al. that Jose Maria Sison acknowledge to be CPP-NPA allies has been opposed to the ROTC program.

“What will we expect from this bloc but oppose the ROTC Program because they stand to lose their pool of potential cadre recruits? Remember those students who were among the NPAs who died in armed confrontations in Batangas and Laguna? Both turned out to be from the University of the Philippines, in Manila and Los Baños, respectively,” Arevalo said.

HB 8961 aims to amend the Republic Act 7077 or the Citizen Armed Forces of the Philippines Reservist Act.

“The reinstatement of mandatory ROTC in Grades 11 and 12 will help instill love of country, good citizenship, respect for human rights, and adherence to the rule of law. We thank our legislators for making the youth their priority,” the AFP said in a statement.

“Now more than ever, we need the strength of an empowered Filipino youth with leadership, sense of duty and service, discipline, and leadership to sustain our nation’s growth and momentum,” it added.

Under the ROTC bill, students with physical disabilities, psychologically unfit, athletic scholars and other valid reasons as approved by the DND are exempted from undergoing the mandatory training.

The ROTC will eventually complement the military as a reserve force to enable to respond to national security threats and emergency.

The ROTC has been discontinued following the death of a University of Sto Tomas student in 2002.

However, Arevalo said the AFP will assign as trainers officers and enlisted personnel with no criminal, civil, or administrative case involving corruption or other malpractices so that they will provide good role models to the students.

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