Missing context

 

While President Marcos Jr. included the introduction of mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) in senior high school in his administration’s list of priority bills, he did not mention why the military training program is no longer mandatory in the first place.

 

The death of University of Santo Tomas student Mark Welson Chua — who was allegedly killed by his ROTC advisers after he reportedly exposed fund mismanagement — in March 2001 catalyzed the passage of the National Service Training Program (NSTP) Act, which has made participation to the ROTC optional.

 

The move to introduce mandatory ROTC in senior high school, or for students aged 16-18 years old, is not new, as former President Rodrigo Duterte also urged Congress to prioritize passing a law to enable such back in 2018.

At that time, Child Rights Network (CRN), the largest alliance of organizations and agencies pushing for children’s rights legislation in the Philippines, noted that the proposal will make the Philippines renege on past international commitments on the protection of children from compulsory recruitment into the armed forces.

 

As CRN noted, introducing a militarist course in senior high school, at a time when students are at the height of their adolescence period, may make children vulnerable to developing various risk behaviors sensitive to adverse and negative experiences that could impact them throughout their lifetime. – Dan Navarro