ILOILO City – The Chief Executive officer of this highly-urbanized city supports the revival of the Reserved Officer Training Corps (ROTC).
Mayor Jerry Treñas said the program would provide the country a source of defense and would help instill discipline and patriotism among students.
“I have nothing against that. It will give children a chance to have military training,” he said, adding he also went through the Citizens Army Training in high school and ROTC in college and “did not find anything wrong with it.”
Treñas said should the proposal be approved, ROTC cadets can even help in civic duties such as the city’s cleanup and tree planting activities.
“They help us in disaster and provide additional manpower during festivals,” he said.
The House of Representatives has passed House Bill 8961, or the proposed ROTC Act, calling for the mandatory ROTC in senior high school in both public and private education institutions.
The ROTC training aims to instill patriotism, discipline, moral and spiritual virtues, respect for human rights, and adherence to the Constitution.
On Dec. 5, around 2,500 ROTC cadets from selected colleges and universities and uniformed personnel in the country joined a summit in Quirino Grandstand to celebrate and drum up support for the ROTC.
The event is being organized by the Office of the President through the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) and Presidential Security Group, in coordination with the Department of National Defense and the AFP through the Office of the Reservist and Retiree Affairs. (With a report from PNA/PN)
