MILITARY TRAINING | Student leaders say proposed NCST program not different from mandatory ROTC bill

December 12, 2022 , 04:19 PM

By Clarist Zablan

(December 12, 2022) – Youth advocates and student leaders on Monday opposed a proposal in the lower house to create a mandatory national citizens’ service training program (NCSTP) in tertiary education, calling it a “mandatory ROTC in a different name.”

Avery Alo, convenor of the No to Mandatory ROTC Network, said the measure is no different from imposing the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program to all university and college students because this could expose many Filipino youth to “abuse.”

“Sa panukalang NCSTP Bill, AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) ang mags-usupervise, ROTC cadets ang magtu-turo at ang magta-tapos nito ay automatic na bahagi ka ng AFP Reserve Force,” Alo said in a statement. “Wala ring exemptions dito. Malinaw po na ang ang NCSTP ay Mandatory ROTC sa ibang pangalan.”

National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) president Jandeil Roperos also shared the same sentiment.

“Alam nilang mabaho ang Mandatory ROTC kaya pinalitan nila ng pangalan. Pero tulad ng COVID-19, kahit anong variant, peste pa rin ito sa mamamayan,” said Roperos.

Last week, two Lower House panels approved the consolidation of several bills on NCST and ROTC programs, into a measure that would replace the current National Service Training Program (NSTP) with a mandatory NCST program alongside an optional ROTC program.

The program will require students from universities and colleges, both public and private, to undergo training on civic duty, emergency, and disaster response to produce reservists for the National Service Reserve Corps (NSRC) and AFP Reserve Force.

La Salle for Human Rights and Democracy spokesman Mark Anthony Cachero and Benhur Quequeggan of Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) Central Student Council also raised concerns that the proposed program will only be an additional burden to students.

“Inaasahan natin na panigurado magkakaroon ng dagdag na mga tuition at miscellaneous fee dahil sa NCSTP na ito. Dagdag pa rito yung mga dapat bilhin na mga uniporme, equipment, at pamasahe, panigurado bubutas lang ng bulsa ng mga ordinaryong estudyante,” said Quequeggan.

Proposals in the Congress to make ROTC mandatory, which President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has included as a priority legislation, has met opposition from progressive groups, citing reports of abuses under the program in the past.

The program was previously mandatory to all physically fit male students in universities and colleges, until it was made optional in 2002 under NSTP following the brutal death of an ROTC cadet believed to be linked to his exposé of alleged corruption in the ROTC unit of his university.

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