House eyes repeal of NSTP in favor of mandatory civic training

The House panels on basic education and culture and on higher and technical education will consolidate 27 bills anchored on repealing the National Service Training Program (NSTP) in favor of mandatory Citizens' Training Service Program (CSTP).

On Tuesday, the two committees approved a motion to reconcile House Bill 6486, which seeks mandatory CSTP and repealing NSTP, with 26 other bills seeking mandatory Reserved Officers Training Corps (ROTC), a program abolished in 2001 due to the death of UST cadet Mark Welson Chua.

The motion, made by Bukidnon Representative Laarni Roque and duly seconded by majority of her colleagues, also sought to make House Bill 6486, authored by Speaker Martin Romualdez, as the mother bill.

House Bill 6486 provides that the government will enhance the capacity of its citizens to mobilize and perform their constitutional duty to render personal military or civil service to the state in times of calamities and disasters, national or local emergencies, rebellion, invasion, or war by the establishment of a unified, comprehensive and holistic national citizens service training and mobilization system.

The national citizens service training and mobilization system will include the following:

• a mandatory national citizens service training program to equip and organize the youth, with necessary, essential, practical and pragmatic knowledge and skills for civic duty, emergency and disaster response and preparedness, in the current framework of law enforcement, peace and order, territorial defense and national disaster risk reduction and management, for mobilization for military and civil services that produces reservists for the National Service Reserve Corps (NSRC) and AFP Citizen Armed Force (AFP Reserve Force)
• an optional Reserve Officers' Training Corps Program for higher education students designed to produce officers for the Citizen Armed Force and Regular Force of the Armed Forces of the Philippines; and
• a feasible, realistic and operational National Service Reservist and Citizen Soldier mobilization program through the National Service Reserve Corps and the AFP Reserve Force.

“In the implementation of the national citizens service training and mobilization system, strict monitoring, evaluation and accountability will be observed to prevent all forms of abuses, corruption, hazing, torture, data privacy rights violation, and all forms of violation of human rights,” the explanatory note on House Bill 6486 reads.

“Any incident or report of abuses, corruption, hazing, torture, data privacy rights violation or any form of violation of human rights violation will be immediately investigated, addressed and the maximum penalty imposed on any proven perpetrator or violator.”

Baguio Representative Mark Go, who chairs the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education, expressed his support for the bill, saying Chua's death is not a reason to leave the NSTP law untouched.

“We need to move forward. We need to protect our nation and fight for it. We need to train our youth in disaster response,” Go said.

“You need to expand your knowledge. You can’t just focus on one aspect on what you can contribute,” he added.

But for Kabataan party-list Representative Raoul Manuel, repealing NSTP will deprive the students of their constitutional right to freedom to choose on how they could be of service to their country. He also fears it would pave the way for mandatory ROTC.

“Sang-ayon po sa ating Constitution, the government can require citizens na magsilbi sa bayan and they may opt for military or civil service. Hindi po tumatakas ang mga kabataan sa responsibilidad. Hindi po kami pumipili kung ano ang mas madali. Bukal po sa aming loob ang maglingkod,” Manuel said.

(The government can require citizens to serve the country, but they have an option for either a military or civil service. The youth is not dodging responsibility here. We are not picking the easy way here. We want to render service to our nation wholeheartedly.)

“But if it is working for institution which has a culture of impunity...look at Mark Welson Chua, napatay siya dahil sa pagsasalita [ng mga abuso sa ROTC]. Hangga’t mayroong kultura ng impunity, kahit full mandatory o partial ROTC ang programa, hindi po natin sinasangayunan,” he added.

(Chua was killed because he called out ROTC abuses. Until there is a culture of impunity in an institution, we won't stand for it, whether it is mandatory or partial ROTC.)

Chua was killed after he exposed the alleged abuses of ROTC officials in UST to The Varsitarian, the university's official student publication.

UST Central Student Council President Nathan Agustin agreed with Manuel, saying that their opposition to repealing the NSTP does not only stems from Chua’s death but also its possible impacts on the existing NSTP program.

“Most of what have been mentioned relate to our fear, but we register our objection not only because of the past, but also because of our concern on what would happen to the other NSTP programs such as LTS (Literacy Training Service) and CWTS (Civic Welfare Training Service) na nakakatulong sa mga komunidad na nangangailangan [which help communities in need]. We could lose focus on these initiatives and be overwhelmed with other provisions of the bill,” Agustin pointed out.

“This brings us to  another point: the students having the freedom of choice in rendering service. We believe the NCST will deprive the students of the freedom of choice,” he added. —GMA Integrated News