THE COLLEGE Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) on Wednesday rejected a bill that would make military training mandatory in tertiary schools and disguising that intent by using the term National Citizens Service Training Program (NCSTP).
In a statement, the alliance of collegiate student publications said the measure is a “hidden push” for the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program, which is currently optional under a two-semester national service course.
“The bill is belittling the critical thinking of the youth and they won’t be fooled by this push for ROTC,” CEGP National Spokesperson Melanie Feranil said in Filipino.
“Historically, the youth movement has always been at the forefront of the struggle for freedom and liberation and we will continue fighting against the mandatory ROTC push,” she added.
House Bill No. 6468, authored by House Speaker Martin G. Romualdez, was approved on Tuesday by the committee on technical and higher education.
Under the measure, the government would “enhance the capacity of its citizens to mobilize and perform their constitutional duty to render personal military or civil service to the [country] in times of calamities and disasters, national or local emergencies, rebellion, invasion or war” through the training program.
A Senate counterpart bill was filed on Nov. 28, which seeks to reinstitute a two-year voluntary advance ROTC program at the tertiary level.
The ROTC requirement was abolished in 2002 after Republic Act 9163 established the National Service Training Program.
Moves to abolish the compulsory military training program were prompted by the murder of a private university student who spoke out on corruption within the ROTC system involving students paying off military training officers to skip the requirement.
“We will not forget the killing, the hazing, harassment, red-tagging and all other violence on our fellow youth in the past,” Ms. Feranil said. “We will not allow fake nationalism.” — John Victor D. Ordoñez
