More Filipinos think that the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) program should be optional rather than compulsory, according to a Social Weather Station (SWS) survey.
The survey, conducted March 26 to 29, showed that 42 percent of the respondents believed that ROTC should be optional for senior high school students.
On the other hand, 35 percent opined that ROTC should be compulsory, while 22 percent asserted that the basic military training should not be in the senior high school’s curriculum at all.
Those who favored making the ROTC program an “optional” course were of the consensus that the students should be given the chance to choose between military training or community service.
Respondents from the Visayas indicated the highest level of support (46 percent) in making ROTC mandatory for senior high school students, followed by Mindanao with 34 percent, “Balance” Luzon with 32 percent, and Metro Manila, 29 percent.
Metro Manilans and the Visayans manifested the highest level of support for non-inclusion of the ROTC in the senior high school curriculum with identical 25 percent.
Mindanao and “Balance” Luzon came in second and third with 22 percent and 21 percent, respectively.
Those in Balance Luzon had the highest support for ROTC to be an optional course at 47 percent, followed by Metro Manila with 46 percent; Mindanao, 42 percent; and Visayas, 28 percent,
The polling had a 2.8 percent margin of error.
The SWS also said only one percent of the respondents were either undecided or simply did not have an answer to the question.