Sen. Ronald Dela Rosa said the Mandatory ROTC bill or Senate Bill (SB) number 2034 will be passed in the Senate.
“My own personal estimate is that we will win by a slim margin. If there will be voting, we will win by a slim margin,” said Dela Rosa who sponsored the bill.
He braced for the bill’s approval before President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivered his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) in July.
After Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri committed to continue the deliberations on the mandatory ROTC Bill in May, Dela Rosa is confident this priority measure of the current administration will be approved.
“I am optimistic that the bill making the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps mandatory will be approved by the Senate,” he said.
Maintaining his commitment to enact the measure, Dela Rosa disclosed that he requested Zubiri to tackle SB 2304 and have the measure decided upon by the 24-man chamber.
“I talked to the Senate president that it should be calendared when we return (to the (Senate) so there will be results, whether we like it or not,” he said.
He said people who want the measure or those pro-ROTC bill have been prodding him for the measure.
Congress is currently on break and it is set to resume sessions on April 29.
He reiterated the need for the program, especially with China’s aggression in the West Philippine Sea.
“With or without the West Philippine Sea issue, we really need that. How much more that we have (continuing) threat from the West Philippine Sea. So the more that we have to prepare. There’s no compromise for defense,” said the former PNP chief.
He said, “That’s not a new concept. That was already institutionalized long before you were born,” he said.
He responded to those objecting to mandatory ROTC saying that it has long been there and “our forefathers knew it.”
“They knew that we need to organize the reserve force of our defense, to discipline our youth,” he said.
“That is not an entirely new animal. It has been there since time immemorial. During the Commonwealth period, it was already there. So I don’t think (people) will be shocked about it and other countries, all neighboring countries, have that program,” he explained.
Dela Rosa is one of the senators who filed a bill seeking to impose mandatory ROTC programs on students.
In March 2023, he sponsored Committee Report number 64 containing SB 2034 which consolidated all bills on the mandatory ROTC program.
Under SB 2034, the mandatory basic ROTC program will be imposed on all students enrolled in not less than two-year undergraduate degree, diploma, or certificate programs in higher education institutions and technical-vocational institutions.
The bill is currently under the period of interpellations.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian believes that through ROTC, Filipino youth will be disciplined and stand their ground facing the current security challenges in the country.
Gatchalian made the statement after a new Pulse Asia survey revealed that a majority or 69 percent of Filipinos favor mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps for all young people.
According to the survey, which was conducted from December 3 to 7 last year and commissioned by Zubiri, the highest support for the revival of mandatory ROTC comes from Mindanao (79 percent), followed by Visayas (74 percent), the National Capital Region (67 percent), and Balance Luzon (63 percent).
Gatchalian recalled the results of another Pulse Asia survey he commissioned last year, which showed that 78 percent of respondents nationwide favor the implementation of ROTC at the tertiary level.
The said survey was conducted last March 15 to 19, 2023.
Gatchalian is the co-author and co-sponsor of SB 2034 or the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) Act. The chairperson of the Committee on Basic Education said the Senate are set to prioritize the ROTC Act for plenary interpellation when session resumes in May.
