Kabataan slams House Panel's 'railroad' passing of mandatory ROTC bill

The Kabataan party-list has slammed the House of Representatives' Committee on Basic Education and Culture for the "railroad" passing of the substitute bill on the mandatory Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) for high schools students, claiming it did not even allow student leaders to speak up during the committee meetings.

The measure seeks to make the ROTC mandatory for Grades 11 and 12, where students who fail to undergo the program will not graduate.

"Ito po ay sumalang sa komite nang walang deliberation, hindi po pinakinggan ang mga estudyante, ni hindi man lang pinagsalita. Wala pang limang minuto tumagal ang pagpasan ng substitute bill na ngayon ay House bill 8961 na," Kabataan Representative Sarah Elago said at a forum at the Commission on Human Rights office in Quezon City.

Elago claimed the House panel did not consider and study the ROTC's history which had cases of abuses and corruption.

"Kaya kinukundena ng Kabataan ang ginawang negligence at inaction na ito ng komite pagdating sa panawagan na tugunan ang pagtatanggol ng karapatan sa loob ng mga eskuwelahan," Elago said.

"Malinaw na ang kailangan po sa mga eskuwelahan ngayon, matugunan 'yung matagal nang panawagan ng dagdag na libro, dagdag na classroom, dagdag na sahod sa mga guro at hindi dagdag na militarisasyon. Education, not militarization in our schools," she added.

Child rights advocates and senior high school students expressed their opposition to lowering the the age of criminal liability to 9 and 12 years old. @gmanews pic.twitter.com/mG1Qfb8e8F

— Jamil Santos (@Jamil_Santos02) February 2, 2019

President Rodrigo Duterte last year expressed his plans of reviving the mandatory ROTC for students in Grade 11 and 12.

Enacted in 2002 under the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Republic Act 9163 or the National Service Training Program (NSTP) Act makes the ROTC optional and voluntary for college students.

ROTC was then made one of three components of the NSTP. The two others were called the Literacy Training Services and the Civil Welfare Training Service.

Duterte said that bringing back the military program would be for the benefit of young Filipinos.

Student youth leaders from the National Union of Students of the Philippines and League of Filipino Students present at the forum also expressed their opposition to the mandatory ROTC due to incidents of hazing and human rights violations. — MDM, GMA News