We, students, teachers, parents, and citizens who care for our youth and the nation, firmly oppose the revival of mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) via its inclusion in the Senior High School curriculum. 

(1) Added Expenses and Waste of Public Funds

The Philippines is currently experiencing the worst economic crash in modern history, induced by state criminal negligence amid the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in many students already left behind. Fees imposed by Mandatory ROTC will not help them come back to schools, but only keep them out. Parents and students will shoulder the added expenses for uniforms, gears, food and transportation, and other contributions connected to the implementation of mandatory ROTC. It will also entail additional tuition and other fees among private schools. These added expenses are heavy burdens that poor families could no longer take.

The budget for the education sector is already too little to ensure the safe resumption of face-to-face classes. Worse, many learning facilities and spaces have been damaged and must still undergo rehabilitation from a series of disasters experienced in the past year. The funds that the government will allocate for ROTC should be put to better use in filling in the shortages in classrooms, books, teachers and staff, and the retrofitting of schools in compliance with the minimum health standards to ensure safe resumption of classes.

(2) Added Burden

Mandatory ROTC as an additional subject will necessitate additional time and effort on the part of the students. It will rob students and teachers of their time for rest, recreation, family, and additional livelihood. The requirements of such program will also be highly physically demanding and may negatively affect the well-being of students who are already battered by the intense academic load under the output-based curriculum of the K-12 program. 

At the same time, this will also impose extra workload to teachers who might be assigned as commandants despite the persisting lack of teaching personnel induced by the COVID-19 pandemic.

(3) Culture of Violence and Corruption

The ROTC program, even after it was made optional in 2002, saw numerous cases of violence against students, which led to not a few deaths. The program bore a heinous record of hazing, sexual assault, verbal attacks, imposition of blind compliance, repression, and other forms of physical, emotional, and psychological abuses. 

Corruption within the program was also exposed in the past, like bribery to evade training, collection of questionable contributions, and misuse of funds without accountability. Mark Chua’s expose of the systematic corruption led to his murder and the public outcry that followed pushed for the abolition of mandatory ROTC in 2001. Justice for the past victims of the abusive ROTC program remains to be seen. 

(4) Promotes Fake Nationalism

The government cannot decide how students express their nationalism.The component programs of the National Service Training Program (NSTP) such as the Citizen Welfare Training Service (CWTS) and the Literary Training Service (LTS) offer various ways students can engage in nation-building, including learning relevant topics such as disaster response, health and education.

The 1987 Constitution is always quoted in defense of the bills that will revive mandatory ROTC. But to be clear, it states that “all citizens may be required, under conditions provided by law, to render personal, military or civil service” (Article 2, Section 4). The highest law of the land respects the right of citizens to choose which form of service they will render.

Meanwhile, the government’s claim that rehabilitating the ROTC program is aimed at teaching nationalism is highly questionable, given the current government’s lack of will to defend national sovereignty in the face of China’s incursions in the West Philippine Sea. What is there to teach when there are no role models?

To effectively inculcate nationalism among the youth, the government should primarily strengthen the instruction of history, national language and other vernacular/mother-tongue languages, humanities, and culture subjects in the education curriculum. 

(5) Threat to Academic Freedom

The commanding role of the military in the ROTC program encroaches upon the freedom of school administrators to design and operate school programs. It infringes on the academic freedom of teachers to decide on their own teaching methods. Its propensity of training students to be blind followers contradicts with the education’s objective of developing critical thinking among the youth. With the police and the military recently charging schools as havens of ‘government enemies’, the danger that they will use the ROTC program to gain access to schools, surveil, and repress those it deems as enemies of the government is highly palpable. Schools and civilian spaces must not be used for military purposes. 

(6) Violation of Domestic and International Laws and Conventions

Considering the average age of senior high school students is 16-18 years old, the mandatory recruitment of minors under the ROTC program is against the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, which the Philippines is signatory and party to. 

This is the most widely ratified treaty in the world with support from all nations except the United States of America. It seeks to ensure that “persons who have not attained the age of 18 years are not compulsorily recruited into their armed forces” (Article 2, Optional Protocol to the CRC on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict), regardless of their status as active duty members or as reservists.

It is ironic for the government to pass a law that will produce millions of child soldiers through Mandatory ROTC when such program also violates domestic laws such as Republic Act 7610 or the ”Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act” and Republic Act 11188 or the “Special Protection of Children in Situations of Armed Conflict Act” which were passed in compliance with the CRC and the Optional Protocol. This program will force children to be future reservists against their will. 

With the resounding public clamor in 2001, Congress has junked the compulsory enforcement of the ROTC program. The subject, which only proved to be an added burden and became a breeding ground for abuse and corruption, should no longer be resurrected. As such, we resolutely call for the scrapping of all proposed legislations and other measures that seek to rehabilitate mandatory ROTC in the education curriculum.

We believe that the government has more pressing matters with regard to education to address. We call on the government to take action to resolve the students' genuine concerns for increased education budget and retrofitting of schools towards the safe resumption of classes.

As patriotic citizens, we stand with the people against the attacks on our democratic rights.

NO TO MANDATORY ROTC!

YES TO SAFE SCHOOLS REOPENING! 

HANDS OFF OUR YOUTH!

DEFEND OUR SCHOOLS!