Senator Richard Gordon said Sunday he would renew his proposal to revive the Reserve Officers Training Corps in preparation for any attacks from China.
“We are challenged right now, and we should be prepared,” Gordon said, referring to recent reports that more than 200 Chinese vessels were positioned near Philippine-held Pag-asa Island in the West Philippine Sea.
“I have been proposing the revival of the ROTC so that male citizens who are 18 years old will have military training,” Gordon said.
He said the ROTC cadets can be asked to give six months of military service, noting that in other countries, citizens are even asked to give as long as two years.
“The young should know how to be soldiers,” he said in Filipino. “They should fight for the country if it’s needed.”
Gordon last year filed Senate Bill No. 1417, or the Citizen Service Act of 2017 which proposes to require all college students and those of technical vocational courses to undergo basic citizen service training.
Saying the country faces disasters both natural and man-made, Gordon stressed the importance of having an army of reserved officers who could be called upon and mobilized to assist in external and territorial defense, internal security and peace and order, and disaster risk reduction and management.
In a radio interview on dzBB, GMA resident analyst Richard Heydarian said the continued presence of Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea shows that the country’s effort to build “friendly” ties with China does not work.
“Here’s the problem. After everything President Duterte did for them, our fishermen still cannot fish inside the Scarborough Shoal lagoon,” he said in Filipino. “The Chinese lied because they promised easier access for our fishermen, and that did not happen.”
He said there was no evidence to suggest that President Rodrigo Duterte’s policy toward China was working.
“If anything, China could be encouraged to push the envelop and become aggressive in the West Philippine Sea,” he said.
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