The effectiveness of the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) program in schools depends on implementation and not just ideas, the country’s military bishop said.
Bishop Oscar Jaime Florencio of the Military Ordinariate of the Philippines (MOP) said he is not entirely against ROTC revival as long as it is for the good of the students.
“The push for the ROTC program would be good if they are implemented well,” Florencio told Radio Veritas.
“The different values that are enshrined in the program could go down to the core of our young people,” he said.
The bishop made the statement amid the ongoing push in the Senate for the return of the ROTC program in tertiary and vocational schools.
The program seeks to provide basic military training to motivate, train, organize, and utilize students for national defense preparedness or civil-military operations.
The ROTC was made optional in 2002 because of reports of corruption within the program.
