A youth partylist group has urged the government to remember the death of Thomasian cadet Mark Welson Chua and other events that led to the removal of the mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC), following reports that the bill seeking to revive the requirement is now the administration’s priority.
In a statement, Annie Nicholle Agon, chair of the Kabataan partylist’s chapter in UST, expressed alarm over Sen. Francis Tolentino’s statement that the mandatory ROTC bill has become a “top priority” of lawmakers following President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.’s appeal to expedite its passage.
Tolentino recently said Congress would prioritize Senate Bill No. 2034 or the proposed Reserve Officers’ Training Corps Act, once plenary sessions resume in November.
“Ang tanong ko po kay (My question to) Marcos Jr. is this: Does the name Mark Welson Chua mean nothing to you? Kasi po, sa aming mga taga-UST, hinding-hindi po namin malilimot ang malagim na pangyayaring pagpaslang sa aming kapwa Tomasino dahil sa paglantad niya ng korupsyon at abuso ng ROTC,” Agon, an Artlets sophomore, said.
(Because we here at UST will never forget the horrible killing of our fellow Thomasian just because he revealed the corruption and abuses of the ROTC.)
Chua was a UST Mechanical Engineering sophomore whose death has been tied to his exposè of the alleged illegal practices in the ROTC program of the University.
Chua’s decomposing body was found along Pasig River on March 18, 2001. His death prompted the Arroyo administration to abolish the mandatory ROTC the following year and replace it with the National Service Training Program that made the military training optional.
In 2017, then president Rodrigo Duterte backed the defense department’s call to revive the mandatory ROTC because of rising tensions between the Philippines and China over the West Philippine Sea.Supporters of the policy claim the military training will instill patriotism and discipline among students and boost the country’s military reserve force.
The Kabataan partylist vowed to perform its responsibility as the “hope of the people and heirs of society” and to continue the call for justice for Chua.
According to Tolentino, the mandatory ROTC would be implemented in the first and second year colleges if passed into law. The training will cover disaster preparation and management, environmental care and climate change, among other topics. The bill has been approved in the House of Representatives and is in the period of interpellation at the Senate.
Malacañang has yet to issue a statement confirming that the mandatory ROTC bill is now on top of Marcos’ legislative agenda.
ROTC first became mandatory in the Philippines in 1939 when the late president Manuel Quezon issued Executive Order No. 207 imposing the requirement on all colleges and universities with a total enrollment of 100 students and above. F
