Senate to prioritize ROTC bill upon resumption of session

FILE: ROTC GAMES. Reserve Officers’ Training Corps cadets from the University of Southeastern Philippines in Davao City during the Mindanao orientation of the ROTC games on June 9, 2023. Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri on Monday (April 8, 2024) said the ROTC bill will be prioritized at the Senate when session resumes on April 29. (PNA photo by Robinson Niñal Jr.)

MANILA – The Senate will prioritize Senate Bill (SB) No. 2034, or the proposed Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) Act, as soon as session resumes by the end of the month.

Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri made the assurance in a press briefing on Monday after being donned with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel of the Philippine Army Reserve Force at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.

Zubiri said he has already talked to Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva, and to the bill’s sponsor, Senator Ronald dela Rosa, that the ROTC bill will be discussed in May.

“Sabi ko nga kung meron akong mga kasamahan na hindi sangayon sa ROTC, magboto na lang po sila. Ibigay na lang po nila ang boto nila kasi sa tingin ko mas marami po ang gusto ng ROTC dun sa Senado (As I’ve said, if we have colleagues who do not agree with ROTC, they can just vote, because I think more senators want ROTC). So, let’s give the bill a chance. We’ll vote on it. Whether it passes or not but we will prioritize it this coming May before the sine die break,” he said.

Congress resumes session on April 29, and will have 12 plenary session days before adjourning sine die on May 24.

Zubiri said a Pulse Asia survey he commissioned last December showed that 77 percent of the respondents saying yes to the revival of the ROTC, while less than 10 percent said no.

Zubiri, who was a ROTC cadet during his college days in the University of the Philippines, said there are existing laws to safeguard students from hazing.

He also clarified that the ROTC this time, if revived, will not only focus on marching and training how to use firearms, but also to tap the students’ inherent skills.

“The AFP has decided to come up with other divisions in the ROTC program.

If you are computer experts, so you are in the anti-cyberhacking division of the reservist force. Engineering students will be tapped to assist in engineering programs of the AFP, and nursing students in the medical corps,” Zubiri said.

“So, it will enhance your skills. It will be in tune with the times and I think we should be ready for any eventualities, especially with the tensions that we are feeling around the external areas of the Philippines. We must be ready at all times to defend our motherland, our beloved country, the Philippines,” he added.

The bill, which already reached the Senate plenary last month, shall only include students from higher educational and technical-vocational institutions who will be required to undergo basic military and police training to motivate, train, organize, and use them for national defense preparedness or civil-military operations, and law enforcement.

The ROTC bill is among the priority measures of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.

During the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) meeting last March 19, Zubiri and House Speaker Martin Romualdez committed to pass all the administration’s priority measures, including the ROTC bill, by June this year.