AFP Wants ROTC Mandatory Again for Studes

PDI
March 5, 2006
p. A7


CEBU-CITY - The Armed Forces of the Philippines is pushing to make the Reserve Officers Training Corps again for all male college students.

Military officials here said the numner of students enrolling in ROTC had dropped tremendously since 2002 when the military training became optional for college students.

They said making ROTC mandatory again would re-instill discipline among the youth and prevent them from getting involved in fraternities and drugs.

In furtherance of this, the AFP and ROTC Corps commanders opened on Friday a nationwide convention in this city to advocate the the return of the mandatory ROTC program.

Col Guillermo C Luyao Jr, 7thRegional Community Defense Group commander said, officials of different schools asked the military to lobby Congress to make ROTC mandatory again.

"School officials noticed the lack of discipline among freshmen college students and our objective is to instill discipline in them", Luyao said.

AFP Central Command spokesperson Lt Col Jefferson Omandam said ROTC training was important even if the students were not going to join the AFP.

"Basic military training is essential to all males in case of emergency. This could help them individually and collectively, especially in village defense", he said.

After Republic Act No, 163, otherwise knowns as the National Service Training Program, was enacted in 2001, ROTC became optional among male college students.

Since then, the number of cadets in Central Visayas dropped to over a little over 5000 from a high of 40000 when it was still mandatory, Luyao, said.

Nationwide, the number of ROTC cadets stood at 80000 from a previous high of 250000, he said.

The convention was held at Ecotech Center in this city was attended bu Maj gen Alfonso Crusero, commanding general of the of the 3rd Infantry Division of the Philippine Army based in Jamindan, capiz and Brig Gen Eammanuel Cayson of the Army Reserve Command based in Tanza, Cavite.

It was attended by 169 ROTC Corps caommanders from the Army, 17 from the Navy and six from the Air Force.

The three-day convention ends today with Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz as guest speaker.

Jhunnex Napallacan, PDI Visayas Bureau

Its sad when organizations don't learn from the lessons of the past.

IMO, if the number of cadets taking ROTC will increase, the quality of training will decrease. Back when the size of our own unit was 1 brigade, the quality of training was very poor since you can no longer actually monitor what is happening to the cadets and what are they learning.

If for example, we continue to produce 250,000 basic ROTC graduates per year, in the event that these reserves are activated, the reserve command does not have the capability to activate and equip all of them.

It is useless to force discipline and other doctrines (especially military doctrines) to people who are not willing or resistant to learn. It would be better if we stick with the current NSTP program and make ROTC optional, but possibly placing limits such as 1/3 of enrollees go to CWTS, 1/3 to LTS, and 1/3 to ROTC.

With the current NSTP law plus putting a limit on the number of enrollees per program, we will maintain an ample amount of reservists and will ensure that the quality of training will be better because:

lesser cadets mean a bigger budget for each one,
only those who are interested to learn will join the corps,
training staff to cadet officers to cadet ratio will be better thus providing for better instruction.

:agree:

Another measure which would help improve the quality of training of the ROTC cadets would be to assign Tac NCOs to be present in the unit(school) everyday from Mondays to Saturdays like what was being done before. Nowadays, the Tac NCOs, Tac Os, and the Commandant only comes during Saturday formations leaving the cadet officers to do all the work in the office, leaving a very big loophole for mistakes including corruption because no one is monitoring what the cadet officers are doing on weekdays.

Alternatively, the AFP could abolish school-specific units altogether, and conduct ROTC training / operations from a military camp. ROTC units would represent cities/regions instead of schools.

US ROTC has adopted a similar schema. Check out the "Hoya Battalion", to which the Georgetown University belongs.

That sounds like a good idea! Adroth, do you have any more information on how the US runs its ROTC?

Although I am also a pro ROTC, I think is is not necessarily making it mandatory again but a matter of improving and modifying the NSTP curriculum like having a quota system to a certain level of percentage in an institution and make basic ROTC a major requirement for those aspiring to enter the armed service in our country. Hindi yung wala na ngang PMT/CAT, wala pang ROTC - tinatanggap parin sa kung anuanong academy or military training. :dunno:

There are many problems with making ROTC mandatoryespecially if you are handling up to a thousand or more cadets per unit.

It means the AFP would have to retain extra personnel to train cadets.

Experienced officers and enlisteds would be assigned to help train cadets and these are folks better allocated to frontline combat units.

Furthermore more personnel means more people to pay, feed clothe and house. The AFP would also have to shell out its part in training the cadets. Both means less funds to be allocated to the acquisition of new equipment and training for the troops.

Old problems like bribery schemes and dull training regimens would be expected.

However based on my experiences in my school, reverting back to a mandatory program is the only way to keep ROTC alive.

From where I came from the school administrators who ran the CWTS and LTS allegedly exploited to the full school resources to make the civillian components more attractive while the Cadet Officer Corps had little resources to work with.

It didn't help any that ROTC was connected to an institution with a nasty reputation for corruption and human rights violations. The ROTC also had a nasty rep on campus for power-tripping, hazing and utterly pointless and largely disliked training regimens (how does sitting in the afternoon sun for hours sound?)

If it does become mandatory again, there are a lot of changes in RA1163 that would still come in handy. One would be placing the jurisdiction of the ROTC units under the school and relegating the Military personnel to advisory roles. This is an important safeguard against anomalies like bribes and hazing and excesses like training staff (Commandants and MTIs) meddling with the set POIs.

One thing that could be done would be to give more of the workload of training the cadets to the cadet officer corps. After all, they know how best to implement the program since they are part of the student population. A generic POI from the CDU or ARCEN doesn't usually conform to the peculiarities of the school. The Cadet Officers can also tailor the program to make it more attractive to the freshies.

i saw a resolution there about changing the ROTC to National Reservist Training Program.i wasn't able to read the entire document though

I would agree with this statement if the plan were to keep the current school based system. However, if we let the military run the program themselves from centralized locations, then things would be different. I believe we need more intensive training in fewer locations.

IMHO, ROTC units in schools should be nothing more than extra-curricular student organizations (in the Ateneo de Davao, they would be part of the campus clubs organization) that serve the following purposes:

- Advertise the presence of an ROTC program (a new, revitalized one)
- Provide assistance to non-military components of the NSTP
- Promote civic responsibility and disaster readiness (e.g., conduct first-aid clinics, etc.)
- Prepare prospective cadets to take military subjects (see below for when it will be conducted), through physical training programs, etc.

These activities would paint a positive picture of the program, as well as the service. Only a minimum of AFP supervision of these activities would be required, since these unit's activities are not as complex as those of the current system. Commandantship tasks, for the school year at least, would be purely administrative.

Note, an ROTC cadet would not have to be part of such a unit/organization. He can apply for ROTC training directly with the CDC. A student would only join these organizations if he/she feels needs help preparing for the training. Think of it as cram school.

Military Subjects should be taught at the CDC . . . during summer. The summer training would then be the culmination of a year's preparation (again, a cadet could prepare as part of a school-based unit, or on his own). Cadets would then benefit from the same training facilities that real soldiers have, and have real military instructors.

There will still be some sense of unit pride -- competition for honors in the summer training. The content of the summer training would dictate the activities of the ROTC units/organizations for the school year. Students would become responsible for training themselves, in preparation for being trained by the pros.

An additional benefit of this system is that training will be conducted without interfering with the student's studies. Working students can also have the benefit of a real weekend-off during the school year, or can find additional means of income.

ROTC cadets would then be exempt from regular NSTP during the regular school year. Qualified ROTC cadets would also have the benefit of scholarships, as prescribed by RA 7077.

This form of ROTC could be conducted in conjunction with Pendejo's PMA-in-the-University idea: http://pdff.sytes.net/index.php?showtopic=611&st=30

Scroll to the middle to get the gist. This, IMHO, is the most promising idea for revitalizing martial training in schools, and to bring the AFP officer corps closer to the people they are supposed to serve.

Making it mandatory again will just give it more flaks. Same arguments will be raised and would include the clamour for its removal again since they would say now that it was done before.

Just like previous discussions, make it voluntary for those willing. And in order to increase the number of those "willing", package it to be attractive to the youth. Not those traditional marches and drills under the sun for nothing. Show them what the different services has to offer, its equipments, camp tours to see real military men work and maybe joint exercises (FTX) during summer with the different reserve units. Not only did we prepare those cadets as future reservist but we continue to train and upgrade our reserve units as well.

Identify the specialties of those cadets, engineering, medical, chemistry, IT, communication, etc. and make them pro-active to the needs of the AFP. We have seen those in the Mapua and UP students in our AFPs R & D.

Just like here, too many brains! :armyLol:

The problem with summer training is that, not all interested students would be able to join since some have mandatory summer classes. I myself have a mandatory 9 units of summer classes as part of my course curriculum.

Maybe what could be done is that training will still be done on weekends, but cadets will instead report to their respective CDCs. The only problem with this is that some CDCs are fairly small and do not have the space (like classrooms for example) to provide the instruction needed to the cadets.

Pendejo also has great ideas concerning the improvement of the current system of ROTC.

With the current program, ROTC shouldn't even be called ROTC since not all graduates become reserve officers. CMT sounds more fitting to our current ROTC program.

ROTC has been traditionally a parade ground army to provide the schools, colleges and universities with an Honor Guard for school ceremonies like graduations and alumni homecomings. Though for these, dedicated HG units like UPD's Rayadillo along with Cadet Officers are the ones pulling this off.

Emphasis for the rank and file cadets should be the more militaristic than ceremonial aspect of the corps. One of the CorpsComms I went through said that ROTC is the cadet's exposure to the military. Thus it should be pulled off well for it to be effective.

One way would be for special units to not only serve specific roles for the unit like MPs to secure the training area, Medics for first aid assistance, Field Artillery to maintain the Corps' rifles and so forth. They should prepare the cadets for potential roles they can fill should they join the armed forces like MPs can get further training as paramedics and Special Rifle units could provide a pool for snipers.

Since reservists are largely utilized for humanitarian ops, cadets should also be given the option to participate in Hum and CMO ops.

If there is to be a centralized follow-on program for ROTC, then this could best facilitate further integration of reservists and ROTC alumni into the regular force.

One problem with reservists is that they are usually pigeon-holed into reserve units used mainly for disaster relief and CMO. They also are used provide a pool of personnel which provide services Academy Grads and boot camp-trained regulars can't provide like engineers, doctors, dentists, JAG officers, accountants and athletes. More vital units like infantry, intel, armor, SOF, artillery and combat aviation have become the strict territory of the Academy grad officers and grunts. They could also use a helping hand given their manpower problems.

I know exactly where you are coming from my friend. I personally have similar feelings for my unit as well. Off the top of my head I can list many benefits that my school enjoyed by having an ROTC unit on campus. But when I think about it objectively, these extra functions that the unit performed were really not related to the ultimate objective of ROTC, which is to train reservists. These were extra, nice-to-have, functions that were not central to its purpose.

IMHO, this is a case of tradition being an end in itself . . . which it really shouldn't. This is similar to the argument that horse mounted cavalry used to justify its existence, even up to the time of WWI where barbed wire and the machine gun have made the man-horse tandem obsolete. Millions of horses died as a consequence of cavalry officers refusing to face up to reality.

There comes a time when we simply have to let go of what is -- in the final analysis -- icing on the cake for the good of the cake. If the sad days comes to close each individual school-based unit, and centralize the conduct of training, then so be it.

I assume that when you say "reservist", you mean part time, AADT-only, troops. If not, skip down two paragraphs. If so, then there is a reason for this. Armor and artillery are very specialized services that require full-time troops. We are not like the US which has an abundance of hand-me-down equipment that regular units can spare for the reserves and National Guard. What little we have must be available for use in combat -- not for training part-time soldiers.

Re SOF. I doubt if the AFP would willingly spend money turning a person into a finely tuned killing machine, only to release him to the civilian population without using him. Not only is this dangerous, its also throwing away ROI. Here's a nightmare situation. If the army were providing SOF training for part-time reservists, and I were Joma Sison, I would make sure all my cadre were SOF reservists, so that I know what tactics the government will use against my forces.

Re combat aviation. The Philippine Air Force has a lot of pilots in its reserve roster. The PAF is also not exclusively academy territory, as evidenced by the number of PAFFS graduates in its command roster.

If by reservist you mean graduates of ROTC, then this statement is not accurate. For example, BGEN Ignacio Illenberger was commanding officer of the PMC Combat Services and Support Bn -- the navy equivalent of the army's LABde and artillery units. He was a direct-commission officer and was a Corps Commander of the Central Philippine University ROTCU.

Many of my former commandants were ROTC graduates, and officially sported the tank-and-sword insignias of a cavalryman, instead of the crossed rifles of an infantryman. One of my former cadet officers is a cavalryman, although he is currently assigned to an infantry unit in Jolo.

Interesting point.

:agree:

However, his focus is more on improving the PMA than ROTC. IMHO, its a great program to conduct in tandem with ROTC, whose primary function is provide for the leadership needs of the reserves.

Even if Pendejo's idea eventually replaces ROTC, then the AFP will still benefit from it, because it will also achieve one of ROTC's moral imperatives, which is to produce active duty officers that are not trained in the ivory-tower academies, and share the views and ideals of the population at large.

ADROTH, your point is well taken and I stand corrected.

However, having reservists trained for roles normally reserved for regulars like artillery and armored vehicle crews and pilots of combat aircraft like fighter jets and COIN planes would come a lot handy if there was a sudden mobilization in a situation of total war and there is a shortage of trained personnel to fill roles, they can still put up a fight.

The only problem is, it would be hard to train them since there is a lack of equipment.

How about training them in Guerilla tactics?

:headbang:

In our school too, ROTC is mainly used as Honor Guards, and security details on campus events. I share the same sentiments with adroth, that this should not be the case. ROTC is there to produce capable reservists, not security guards which is often the case in our school. ROTC must be limited to training cadets. The problem is that, the commandant really cannot dictate on what he wants since if he does not cooperate with what the school wants, the school administration has the discretion of removing ROTC.

One of our previous CorpsComs said that it's maintaining a balance. ROTC units are paramilitary prganizations ruled by civil laws. Training has to be for civillians only. It's about providing military training fro civillian situations.

In-campus ROTC is meant to meant government requirements for students under first, the Natioal Deffense Act followed by the Expanded ROTC Law and now the NSTP Law. If students do wish to pursue a stint as reservists, then that is what the Advanced ROTC classes are for.

Basic ROTC would be about instilling discipline and familiarizing cadets with the military. Advanced ROTC is to give willing cadets additional training to better prepare them for a stint in the reserve forces of the major services

:agree:

At this point, I don't have stats regarding how many percent of the reserve force actually already have training in those disciplines. However, I believe it safe to say that will probably be a handful who are -- particularly those who left the service for better jobs in the civilian world. Examples of the latter would probably be airline pilots.

A couple of years ago, I heard that the Davao Standby Reserve Bn conducted an artillery course of some sort, I don't have the specifics of what they learned though. This indicates that some form of knowledge sharing goes on in the reserves.

:agree:

I'd be willing to bet that the first people lining up for this training, if it were available, would be the new NPA recruits.

IMHO, better to put reservists in non-sensitive positions so that J-2 has time to study how well they perform, and where their loyalties lie.

bgo pa lang me kya pasensya na lang kung merong kayong d mgugustuhan.

sa tingin ko eh nakakatakot po na imandatory ung rotc.

bakit?

dito pa lang s skul namin sa university along taft C mr. Kamandante Sarhento Tsokolate ay isa na cguro sa matutuwa jan.

kc.. nung last three years ago ala pa ung nstp na yan, mandatory pa ung r.o. eh mismo ung mga "officer cadets" nya mismo ung pinakokolekta nya ng 2k/head
(?% goes to mr. chocolate an ?%goes to officer) para pumasa at kahit d kana umtend ng buong sem. d nmomoitor to nina father president kc sa dami ng mga nag r.o. nung dumating yang nstp na yan eh biglang bagsak ang r.o. population samin. natigil ang tong kc mas at masmadaling namomonitor ng registrar ung mga kadete ng r.o. i remember me friend ako nagbayad sa corp commander nya kaso pagkatapos ng sem eh bagsak dahil daw sa nasisilip. sabi ko sa kanya merong bang refund dun? sabi nya "ala". tsk tsk.

sa madaling salita eh ng hindi na mandatory ung ro eh nabawasan ng matindi ang korupsyon sa r.o. samin. biro pati mga officer cadets ang taga kolekta ng tong. anong katarantaduhan yan. anong klaseng trainng yan. tapos pgyayabang nila pag oficer ka eh malakas ang tsansa mong tumaas agad ang rango sa khit anong branch ng afp pasukin mo? mas malakas kang mapasok sa mga kompanya kung officer ka.. Minsan naiisip ko tinuturuan din ata tong mga oficer na to ng basic psy war eh. abusive pa cla sa rango, pagka nka uniform cla eh kala mo kung cno mkautos sa mga non ro.

isipin nyo isa lang to sa mga "basic skill" na mtutunan nila sa r.o. isipin nyo napasok nga talaga sa ranks ng militar yan edi "general desastr ang dating nun" ala gen garcia o kaya eh favian ver- Kaawaan Sana ng Dios...

tapos sasabihin nyo eh npa ay "darkside", ala dun yan tingnan nyo si
gen. carlos garcia/ gen ver npa ba yang mga hayop na yan.

hindi lahat ng oficer eh kurakot pero...
isipin nyo na lang yang panyayaring yan.

"ang pagbabalik ng pgging mandatory ng rotc ay pag propropagate ng corruption. better concentrate on nstp, mas humanitarian pa."
:closed:


[/CODE][/QUOTE]
i may act like a disgruntled soldier/citizen but because... it is only what i see, feel and hear.

What part of government isn't corrupt?

Are you saying NSTP is incorruptible? (There are already reports of misuse). Besides, NSTP also includes ROTC as a component. Therefore if you say that ROTC is non-humanitarian (despite its service orientation), then you cannot say that NSTP is the opposite -- because NSTP includes ROTC.

Are you saying there are no such thing as corrupt civilian teachers? (Familiar with "kwarto o kwatro"?)

Lets not go around closing topics just because you've either run out of additional arguments, or you have chosen to be close minded. :thumb:

While I am opposed to turning ROTC to mandatory again, I don't want the program to die. The NSTP is good because it provides diversity in skills, which our country needs. CWTS will focus on community awareness, LTS will focus on providing additional literacy training for poor children, while ROTC should focus on CMO and disaster response and preparedness instead of pure military subjects. This way, ROTC can do more for the community, since our ROTC is not really that capable in training 'combat' reservists.

For discipline’s sake, bring back the ROTC!

INSIDE CEBU By Bobit S. Avila
The Philippine Star 03/08/2006

Sunday evening, we had a pleasant dinner with Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz who was in town to grace the closing ceremonies of the 1st National Army ROTC Corps Commanders Convention. Of course, since it was a cold Sunday in Cebu, we didn’t discuss any serious matters but Secretary Cruz merely repeated what he said at the Makati Business Club about the events that transpired a couple of Fridays ago, which led to the declaration of a state of emergency.

One thing that Secretary. Cruz mentioned that I haven’t heard before was that… "soldiers are given arms to defend our country but in exchange for the loss of certain freedoms. If some soldiers want to speak out, they should lay down their arms first."I can’t say that I disagree with this observation. I wouldn’t go on any debate with a man holding a gun because who knows if that person may just use his gun to win the debate.

There is no question that there are just too many soldiers in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) who have become too politicized, though in truth, they are still a minority and the majority of our soldiers still follow the chain of command. These are the soldiers whom we salute, not the ones who help the desperate opposition short-cut our democratic process.

While at dinner, I took the opportunity to brag to the Defense Secretary Cebu’s capability to build naval ships for the Philippine Navy and gave him a CD of the capabilities of FBMA Marine Inc. Of course, the DND Secretary told me that he already knew of what we’ve been doing here in Cebu… so it is really a matter of prioritizing the needs of the AFP. If you ask me, this archipelagic nation needs a Navy to protect our coasts and we’ve ran out of excuses on why we can’t have the ships built. I hope this can be given priority in the Philippine Defense Reform Program.

Prior to the 1st National Army ROTC Corps Commanders Convention, I attended a presscon called by Col. Guillermo Luyao (GSC) PA, Col. Angel Ocubillo (Res), Col. Coffering Layao (Res), Lt. Cresencio Rocamora (Res), Maj. Richard Sison (Res), Maj. Soliver Peras (Res) and Maj. Samson Deles who heads the ROTC program in Cebu, and I was given a document entitled, "Clear and Present Danger of the ROTC Program"which elucidates the dangers that Republic Act No. 9163, known as the National Service Training Program (NSTP), has done to the country, which virtually removed ROTC as a subject in our educational system.

Let me point out that I was always against this law and I have vehemently insisted that the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) is the only subject that teaches our school kids patriotism. Instead, this was removed and in its place a community service program was instituted, which in other countries is a punishment for first-time criminal offenders! Call it adding insult to injury!

If there is no discipline being taught in the schools today, it is due to the absence of the only subject that deals with discipline. Gads, even the Scout Masters of the Boy Scouts today are restrained from barking out their orders to the troop… they are asked to replace it with pleeezz! Let me point out that the ROTC was removed because of corruption in its system. However, as Maj. Dick Sison said, "you don’t cut off your head because you have a headache!" and I fully agree with his observation.

President sArroyo should have addressed the problem of corruption in the ROTC, instead of making it voluntary. In other countries, military service is even compulsory and military training in schools is part and parcel of the growth of their youth. We have lost this already, just like our ability to speak good English! I support the call to restore the ROTC for as long as they fix what‘s wrong with it, including training our youths to use wooden rifles. The ROTC here is another Pinoy tragedy!

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200603089910.htm

I totally agree that ROTC is an essential program but I do not agree in making it compulsory again. The NSTP is far better since students have the option to choose one of the three different training programs. This provides the country with citizens who are trained in different specialties.

CWTS is a good program because it fosters community awareness, which is important especially to the students of elite universities. More fortunate students will see the realities such as poverty which face our country today, and will devise ways to help their community in their own ways.

LTS is also a good program since students who are well educated in colleges and universities will be able to teach less educated young children who have difficulty in literacy, which is an important skill in the world today.

ROTC is also a good program, which teaches students discipline, awareness of our AFP, and is a stepping stone for those who want to pursue a career in the Armed Forces. What should be improved in the ROTC is to reduce the amount of unessential military subjects, and instead replace them with more helpful things such as disaster preparedness and response, first-aid, and other CMO activities.

One of the problems why ROTC is deteriorating is because the reserve command gets little of the AFP budget, most of it going to combat units where it is needed the most. With the current insurgency situation going on, I don't fault them on the way they allocate their budget.

We are helping ensure ROTC's future by keeping this discussion alive. There have been more online discussions about ROTC now, than there have been since 2000. Previously, all discussions have been about abolition. Now, there is real talk about how to make it better. Thanks to fora like this and Timawa, ROTC proponents can reach out to each other, get their heads together, and really flesh out what's wrong with the program.

If only we could invite those 100+ Corps Commanders in Cebu to this discussion.

it wasn't really well represented by all branches of the AFP originally it was only for PA ROTC corps commanders only.it was only (2 weeks before the convention) that SND ordered that they should include the NROTC and AFROTC corps commanders. only 17 from the NROTC and 6 from AFROTC came out of almost 200 participants.

as a reservist i would still go for an all volunteer rotc.it works better that way rather than dragging their asses to training and later end up as a liability.

maybe i could ask a fellow reservist here who was also a delegate to that convention.

That would be a good idea so we can hear first hand what was taken up on that convention. :thumb:

MAKE ROTC COMPULSORY ONCE AGAIN!!! :aberet:

Commando Has Returned! :devilwink:

Were you part of the convention in cebu?

Yeah his back! Ian meet commando. :banana:

Ma’am, your Army jeep has no spare tire!

INSIDE CEBU By Bobit S. Avila
The Philippine Star 06/16/2006

Rep. Eduardo Gullas has filed House Bill No. 5460 aimed to once more make the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) mandatory for all male tertiary students enrolled in all private and public colleges and universities. Rep. Gullas seeks to repeal Republic Act 9163, a.k.a. the National Service Training Program Act of 2001, because honestly speaking this program hasn’t helped this nation a bit!

No doubt, RA 9163 was a grievous mistake as it has put our nation in serious jeopardy, when our Armed Forces is perilously low on reservists. In our RDC-DevAd meeting yesterday, Capt. John Oliver Dabun made a parallel argument, asking our members, "Who among you here would drive your car without a spare tire?" This was the right phrase to support the return of our ROTC. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) is the Commander-in-Chief and it is time to tell her, "Ma’am, your Army jeep doesn’t have a spare tire!"

Let me remind you that during World War II, the entire Philippine archipelago was not subdued by the Japanese Army because many able-bodied Filipinos who took the ROTC became guerrillas in their home-provinces and they were able to keep the Japanese busy until the return of Gen. Douglas MacArthur. We have also conveniently forgotten that the ROTC has other important uses, especially during natural disasters and calamities!

Let me point out further that most nations like Israel, South Korea and the United States have mandatory military training as it is the principal source of reservists. This is why I hope that President Arroyo, as Commander-in-Chief, would declare the Gullas proposal a priority administration bill so that we can regain what we’ve lost in all those years that we didn’t have any ROTC programs in our schools. This is definitely a step in the right direction in building a better nation and a Strong Republic.

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200606169908.htm

This is an exaggeration.

Although it is true that ROTC cadets, such as those in Silliman University in Dumaguete and in universities in Metro Manila, joined guerilla outfits, to imply that they formed the backbone of the resistance during World War II is absurd. Guerillas came from a very broad spectrum. College kids were, AFAIK, a minority.

Rather than making ROTC mandatory, it would be better, IMHO, to package ROTC as the elite component of the NSTP. Anybody can get into NSTP -- but only the best of the best make it into ROTC.

The program is only four years old. How can he come to this conclusion so quickly, in light of the fact that ROTC has been ailing for over 60 years.

Why does he want to re-institute this chauvinistic aspect of the program? He mentioned the Israeli program, but neglected to mention that Israeli women are also required to render military service.

If he wants to bring ROTC back, it should be for all Filipinos -- not just a specific gender.

Right on adroth! Instead of a compulsory ROTC, continue with the NSTP program but instead allot a bigger budget to improve the training provided by ROTC! A bigger budget would mean that the AFPRESCOM could station an NCO permanently in each ROTC office to oversee daily activities (which would prevent abuses), better training aids such as new maps and charts (our maps are circa 1980s!), a custom computer program specifically designed for ROTC administration which can prevent manipulation of grades and restrict access to files and also get rid of tons of paper lying around, ammunition for familiarization firings, and more. This in turn would result to better ROTC graduates which equates to better AFP reservists!

IMO, quality always beats quantity every time, and reservists are not an exemption.

I'm for ROTC and if I have to undergo the training again, I would. If it is not too much
I'd like to suggest that the Rainbow project, it's concepts and likewise the Home Defense Program of then Sec. Crisol be studied, revised or added to suit todays ROTC.

I do not agree with making the ROTC mandatory for the meantime. Even we were at the UP ROTC, we already advocated that the program be voluntary.

When we became first class cadets, we tried very hard to make the ROTC program effective and relevant. We abolished the light duty units, reformed the attendance and grading system, banned the selling of uniforms and snacks during drill days, and we focused more on actual military training rather than drills and ceremonies, we requested that more competent TAC-NCO's be assigned to our unit.And we made the cadet officer candidate course hard for the plebes (a.k.a. tough hazing)!!!

The ROTC program itself is not the problem but the constraints that the AFP has to deal with in order to make an effective ROTC training.Budgetary contraints is the no.1 problem since the AFP is dealing with a long standing insurgency and a mindanao rebellion. And most of the officers and enlisted personnel are assigned to battle front areas where they are most needed. Thus, majority of ROTC units are undermanned. I must admit that majority of the officers and Tac-NCO's assigned to the ROTC are the incompetent ones since the AFP needs good men in the battle fronts.

For the ROTC to be an effective program, we have recommended the ff before:

1) Not all universities and colleges should have ROTC. Only state colleges or universities and only 1 per province.
2) It should be voluntary.
3) The budget per RCDG should be allocated to the 1 ROTC unit per province to give benefits and provileges to students who enroll in the ROTC program.
4) The ROTC curriculum should be changed. Most ROTC units focus on drills and ceremonies rather than on combat related courses.


DUTY HONOR COUNTRY

:agree:

Welcome to the forum UPV.

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200608292602.htm

The ROTC really helps a lot but only those who will eventually join the AFP or those who have a liking for military training.

I too have completed my ROTC (Army) and i dint learn much enough about the militarty and all. Only the cadet officer corps benifitted from it. They were able to hold and fire real weapons and were taught the intricacies of the military organization.

For the rest, ROTC IS A WASTE OF TIME AND AN ADDED EXPENSE FOR THE PARENTS WHO HAVE TO SHOULDER THE EXPENSES FOR THEIR KIDS' ATTENDANCE TO THAT BOGUS MILITARY TRAINING. It's a boring and a waste of precious time.

WHY FORCE THE CADETS (who arent part of the cadet officer corps) TO SPEND TWO YEARS FOR A TRAINING THAT THEY CAN LEARN IN 1 TO 3 DAYS ANYWAY?

Building patriotism or respect to the flag and teamwork or camaraderie can be done through other means, like inter-collegiate sports event or a national contest on sports or quizzes.

I'd say we bring back the ROTC but we must not compel all students to take it.

There should be 3 options that the students must take.

1) Citizens Military Training

2) Community Service

3) Environmental Service

The CMT is self-explanatory already. This can help the students get the needed jumpstart before they enter the military after graduation.

As for the Community Service, this can be similar to the "junior police" concept or the medical missions that the students can do. This is perfect for students taking nursing, medicine and dentistry and other related courses. Students taking criminology, civil engineering, agriculture and related courses may be tapped to form the corps for the Community Service pool. The community service will also be very beneficial to the students because this will serve as their OJT. A perfect concept for them indeed. Those taking agriculture can be tapped to train farmers on new farming technologies.

As for the Environmental Service, we can tap students taking agriculture-based courses like those in UP Los Banos and other sciences involved in nature conservation. We can tap this pool for replanting denuded watersheds like that of Magat and Pantabangan dams. The mountains surrounding the new dam in Bohol is also denuded.

Also, they can be tapped for the replanting of trees on the mountains near their school. Students with the help of their professors can draft a scientific approach in replanting these trees. They can also be tapped to train fishermen or help them manage the resources they depend on. They can be tapped to help these folks protect mangroves and coral reefs and "design and put up" artifical reefs. UP Los Banos and the university in Neuva Ecija and other well-known schools offering courses related to agriculture can be tapped for a pilot project on this.

They can also be tapped to repopulate these forests with wildlife like the endangered species or wildlife that serves as food for other animals. The flying lemur or "kagwang" and palm civet or "musang" are a good example. These are parts of the diet of the Philippine Eagle. We can replant the mountains in the watershed serving Magat Dam and repopulate it with such wildlife and hopefully the Philippine Eagle and other endagered species will return to these once lively forests. It is very possible with Magat Dam since the Palanan Rainforest, the home of the Philippine Eagle is just nearby. Other species may finally find a new home in these revived forests.

WHY THE NEED TO MAKE ROTC VOLUNTARY?

1) Added expense for the parenst and students.

2) Waste of time for students who do not have an interest in military training. Instead of using their time studying and doing research, their time is wasted in a day-long activity every week.

3) There are other ways to effectively tap these students, not just for replenishing the reservist corps for the military but also for other much more suitable exposures.

We also need to do the same for high school students.

As for the conjecture that making ROTC compulsary is a very "naive" and baseless. Whoever came up with this theory or conjecture has not really understood the whole situation.

LET'S NOT FORCE THEM TO WASTE THEIR TIME BUT TAP THEM FOR THE PROGRAMS THAT THEY CAN PERFORM WITH ENTHUSIASM.

This is where the students will bring out their best, thus making this program effective and enjoyable for all.