FACT CHECK | Bongbong Marcos’ claim there was no ROTC in the 1970s is false

February 28, 2022 , 05:34 PM

(February 28, 2022) – In a video posted on social media, former senator and presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr claimed his father asked him to undergo military training with the Marines and with the Army commandos in 1975, when he was 18 years old, because there was no Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) program for university students.

The video resurfaced after his running mate, Davao City Mayor Sara Carpio, suggested the government implement mandatory military training for all men and women who reached 18 years old. Her proposal was patterned after military service programs in South Korea, Israel and Singapore.

It is different from the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) course which is a mandatory two-year training program for male students in the university. It is also different from the Citizen’s Military Training (CMT) program in high school, where fourth year students were required to undergo the CMT program.

In the video, Bongbong Marcos talked about the special training he went through in the Marines and the Army’s Special Forces Regiment-Airborne and First Scout Ranger Regiment because there was no ROTC program.

Bongbong Marcos’ statement in the video is false.

CLAIM:

In a vlog or video blog on his official Facebook page in June 15, 2019, Ferdinand Marcos Jr claimed that his father, the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr, sent him to take a Marines basic officers course because there was still no “national service” or Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) program when he was 18 years old. Based on his date of birth, that was in 1975.

“Noong I was 18 year old, wala namang RO, wala namang national service na tinatawag, pero syempre ang father ko galing military, sabi niya “kailangan magsilbi ka” pumasok ako sa marines basics officers course,” Marcos Jr said on the blog.

Bongbong Marcos narrated his experiences when he underwent special military training, and supported plans proposed by his running mate to the Congress to reinstate mandatory ROTC in the country.

RATING: FALSE

FACTS:

The National Service Training Program (NSTP), which includes ROTC, was signed into law in 2002, allowing students to choose military, police or civic training programs, including disaster and relief operations.

But ROTC has existed in the Philippines since 1922. It was first officially established in the University of the Philippines that year, although mandatory military training for able-bodied male students in the university existed as far back as in 1912, according to UP Vanguard’s official page. ROTC even became mandatory in certain colleges and universities in 1967 under President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.

The Commonwealth Act No. 1, which was approved in 1935, then provided for the president to designate colleges and universities that will maintain ROTC training for physically fit men. Then President Manuel Quezon made ROTC mandatory in all colleges and universities with a total enrollment of at least 100 students.

Marcos raised the number to 250 male students under Executive Order No. 59 in 1967.

Bongbong Marcos was not able to undergo ROTC because he was enrolled in the UK-based university for an undergraduate degree, which he failed to complete. His claim is false because there was an ROTC program during that time. The military training he got from the Marines and from the Army was a special which he was allowed to undergo. It was not available to ordinary students at that time.

In 2002, the ROTC was replaced by NSTP under Republic Act 9163 after Mark Welson Chua, an ROTC cadet, was brutally murdered by soldiers serving as training staff when he exposed corruption in the University of Santo Tomas (UST) ROTC program.

Bongbong Marcos couldn’t have undergone ROTC in 1975 because he was not enrolled in a Philippine university or college for an undergraduate program. In that year, he enrolled in the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom in 1975 under the BA in Philosophy, Philosophy and Economics program, but failed to complete the degree. He was only given a special diploma.

Rappler has also fact-checked the former senator’s claim on his involvement in the military.

WHY THIS MATTERS:

Marcos Jr, the frontrunner in the May 2022 presidential race, posted the vlog on his official page in 2019, but it continues to get news interactions on Facebook. As of writing, the vlog has garnered around 195,000 views, 17,000 reactions, 892 comments, and 3,700 shares. He has been spreading disinformation through his vlog.

News 5 is part of #FactsFirstPH which brings together various sectors that are committed to promoting truth in the public space, and exacting accountability on those who harm it with lies. For those interested to join the initiative, e-mail info@factsfirst.ph. Message News 5’s Facebook page if you want to have any claims fact-checked. Read our fact-checking policy here.

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