What will people make of this?
During his visit to the Armed Forces of the Philippines Medical Center in Quezon City last week, President Rodrigo Duterte told soldiers, “You know I am not from the military. I did not even finish ROTC but I’m not into delays. Let’s be frank. I don’t want delays and corruption.”
ROTC is the acronym for the Reserved Officers Training Corps.
“Duterte is pushing for the revival of mandatory service to the ROTC program, believing this would promote patriotism and keep the youth away from drugs,” report Alexis Romero and Janvic Mateo in The Philippine Star.
The report noted: “ROTC is one of three components of the National Service Training Program (NSTP). Other courses offered are Civic Welfare Training Service, which deals with community programs, and the Literacy Training Service, which seeks to provide basic skills to public school pupils.”
The report added, “The mandatory ROTC program was abolished after then president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed the NSTP law in 2002. Congress passed the measure following the murder of Mark Chua, a University of Santo Tomas student who bared irregularities in his ROTC unit.”
