Those who were made to suffer two years of Preparatory Military Training and Reserve Officers’ Training Corps know the drill: Every Saturday, they would have to march in formation with mock Garand rifles under the hot tropical sun and utter ‘Sir, yes Sir,’ to every command of their officers, and grudgingly do push-ups for actual or imagined breaches of rules and discipline.
If I remember right, the compulsory military training for students was embodied in the 1935 Constitution, with the framers working under the shadow of the First World War and war clouds in the horizon, with the Japanese invasion and occupation not too far away. Given that situation, mandatory military training for Filipino youths may have been justified.
After the Second World War, PMT and ROTC continued, until the 1990s when these were abruptly halted following the death of a UST ROTC cadet who had complained of widespread corruption.
Now, at least two senators are pushing for the revival of mandatory military training for Grade 11 and 12 senior high school students.
Their main justification, marching in formation with mock rifles under the hot tropical sun, shouting, ‘Sir yes Sir’ at the top of their lungs and having to do strenuous push-ups on the whim of sadistic officers, would teach students “love of country.”
I don’t think so.
I absolutely hated going through PMT and ROTC. These did not teach me love of country at all.
What mandatory military training did, far as I was concerned, was to look at it with fear and loathing as it was a big waste of time, energy and money.
Who, after all, would benefit from mandatory ROTC and laugh all the way to the bank? For one, school administrators and military officials who stand to benefit from overpriced ROTC uniforms for hundreds of thousands of students whose already hard-up parents will have to scrape up extra money for uniforms, transportation fare for an extra day at school, and sundry expenses while undergoing hardship in the hands of self-entitled ROTC officers and their AFP handlers.
What ROTC does is to inculcate blind obedience to orders from above. I don’t believe there’s a smidgen of truth in the claim that mandatory military training for the youth would automatically make them patriotic or nationalistic.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, main author of the ROTC revival measure in the 17th Congress and wants it fasttracked by the 18th Congress, claims that his bill, once approved, will teach patriotism and nationalism and will strengthen our country because our youth will have more skills. We want to strengthen the skills of our youth and ROTC is one way to impart those skills,” he said.
Gatchalian has found a staunch ally in his crusade in former police chief and now Senator Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa, who parrots the oft-cited line that it would promote patriotism among the youth.
De la Rosa offers a carrot to those who complete the basic ROTC program, saying they would be eligible for lateral entry and enlistment in the PNP, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine Coast Guard, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology and the Bureau of Fire Protection.
The former police chief rues the declining number of reservists and believes that those who completed the basic ROTC program would not only be summoned in the event of a war, but would also be asked to assist in rescue and relief operations in times of disaster.
“We have to prepare. If warranted, we have to muster fighters, warriors, soldiers from the reserve force. They should be available anytime,” De la Rosa said.
The insistence on mandatory military training as breeding ground of patriotism and nationalism is completely baseless.
What will instill patriotic fervor and genuine nationalism among our youth, as I see it, is seeing public officials truly adhere to what the Constitution says: “Public office is a public trust. Public officers and employees must at all times be accountable to the people, serve with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty and efficiency, act with patriotism and justice, and lead modest lives.” How many of our public officers are even aware of this provision? You can probably count with the fingers of one hand those in public service who have taken to heart these basic guidelines for clean and honest governance.
I tend to agree with the legislators and youth groups opposing the bill because it would only teach blind obedience.
Take the case of a B-movie actor who voluntarily underwent short-duration specialized military training. He came away from the experience extolling his rigid training to high heavens, but wishing hell for those who held views contrary to his, telling them to just “stop talking.” Isn’t this reflective of a proto-fascist mindset? Of course, that’s not ROTC he went through, but it’s still the same military training that in essence emphasizes unswerving blind obedience to orders from above, right or wrong.
In the early 70s, an acquaintance from elementary school revealed that he and his friends in college hated abusive ROTC officers so much that they conspired to burn down the building housing the Department of Military Science and Tactics. That may have been taking matters in their own hands too far, but not without reason either, given the fervid anti-Establishment temper of the times.