League of Filipino Students

PRESS RELEASE
August 5, 2010

LFS rejects ROTC revival

“The revival of the ROTC law will be a dark day for democracy and civilian supremacy. We will oppose all efforts by the DND and the AFP to revive the mandatory ROTC law.”

This was the statement Terry Ridon, national chairperson of the League of Filipino Students as student and youth groups slammed the Department of National Defense and the Armed Forces of the Philippines in renewing its calls to revive a ‘militarist and rejected statute’ that had already been replaced by a citizen-driven law – the NSTP law.

“The NSTP, in almost a decade’s implementation, had been very effective in pursuing its statutory purpose of allowing college students to choose how best to train themselves and render public service. If it ain’t broke, why fix it?”

He dispelled the good intentions of the new ROTC law which would now supposedly focus on disaster response and community service.

“These supposed good intentions by the AFP are now being implemented by the citizen-driven CWTS and LTS components of the NSTP, and both had been very effective in doing so during the entire implementation of the NSTP law. The AFP’s pitch falls squarely on program redundancy.”

He said that if the real concern of the DND and the AFP is the rapid deployment of citizenry in the event of calamities, the NSTP law provides that all colleges students who underwent the NSTP’s civilian-driven components shall automatically be part of a reserve citizens volunteer corps, which may be deployed during emergency situations.

“The thrust of the NSTP is for the youth to recognize the supremacy of the people, and its capacity of effecting genuine change. A return to the old ROTC law is a step backward towards institutionalizing military supremacy in the minds of the youth.”

Ridon said that colleges and universities have not forgotten the complaints of students that had previously led to the mandatory ROTC’s abolition, such as allegations of corruption, physical and mental abuses, hazing, harassment of known student activists and leaders, among others.

“These are problems that would surely return, because it is the ROTC as an institution that is the problem, and not merely the persons running it.”

Ridon said that no matter how ‘nicely packaged’ the new ROTC law shall be, it would be no different from the previously junked law.

“We dread the day that another Mark Chua would lay dead because of the ROTC.”

LFS vowed to oppose it in the next few months, and plans to lobby for the ROTC law’s rejection in both houses of Congress.