“Instilling fear, not patriotism.”
Youth militants remained adamant on their stand against reviving the mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) in schools.
On Wednesday, the House committee on basic education and culture approved a bill seeking to revive the ROTC for grades 11 and 12 (senior high school) in public and private schools nationwide.
Kabataan Partylist-Mindanao vice president Javvie Cabajes said during the 49th anniversary of the First Quarter Storm (FQS) at the UCCP Haran in Madapo, Davao City, that the program will affect the physical and psychological health of students.
FQS is a commemoration activity to Filipino youth and students, who fought against the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos.
“If we look into the real picture, ROTC will only bring up a culture of torture, that by instilling discipline means instilling dictatorship,” Cabajes said on Friday morning.
President Rodrigo Duterte pushed for the revival of ROTC in order to “instill patriotism, love of country among our youth.” Duterte also renewed his call to have the course implemented in colleges.
ROTC was abolished in 2001 after Mark Chua, University of Santo Tomas student, died after being reportedly tortured in an ROTC hazing incident.
Cabajes said that reviving ROTC would defeat the peace zone purpose of the school.
“The school premises should be a peace zone, wherein fear and dictatorship should not prevail, for these children had the right for a harmonious education,” Cabajes said.
The young activist said that there are other means of integrating patriotism and nationalism.
“We can integrate them with the basic sectors of the society, through an Alternative Class Learning Experience (ACLE), which was proposed by the Kabataan Partylist,” he said.
Cabajes said that although it will not be an alternative, the proposed program will give a bigger picture of the social issues in the country.
