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The Philippines Wants to Revive Mandatory Military Training for High School Students

The Philippine House of Representatives passed a bill requiring mandatory military training for Grade 11 and 12 students under the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program.
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Filipino students may soon take up mandatory military training again after the House of Representatives approved a proposed law to bring back the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) in an attempt to "produce well-trained and prepared reservists for military and civic service."

Legislators voted in favor of House Bill 8681 on Monday, May 20, which mandates the ROTC program "shall apply to all students in Grades 11 and 12 in all senior high schools in public and private educational institutions."

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Currently, the ROTC is one component of the National Service Training Program (NSTP), along with the Literacy Training Service, which lets students become teachers to out-of-school youth and other marginalised sectors, and Civic Welfare Training Service, which lets students assist in the betterment of certain sectors of society like education, health, recreation, and the environment. If the bill passes the Senate and President Rodrigo Duterte signs it into law, both male and female students will be required to undergo the training.

The only students who can be exempted from the program are varsity sports athletes, students who have undergone similar military training, and those exempted by the Armed Forces or the Department of National Defense.

The popularity of ROTC sharply declined after Mark Welson Chua, an ROTC cadet from the University of Santo Tomas, was killed in 2001 after exposing corruption in his university’s ROTC program.

Representative of youth party list KABATAAN Sarah Elago slammed the passing of the bill, stating that the bill was not approved without the consultation of the youth, arguing that the youth should be given more education rather than training.

Should the Senate pass the bill, Duterte is likely to approve it. "I likewise encourage Congress to enact a law that will require mandatory ROTC for Grades 11 and 12 so we can instill patriotism, love of country among our youth," Duterte said in November last year.