Here we will highlight the key issues of the campaign to make visitors to our site familiar with our position.

Monday, 9 July 2001

Roco appeals for sobriety
By JOEL ATENCIO

Many students of the Reserved Officers Training Course (ROTC) walked out yesterday of their military training for the third time at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) and Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) both in Manila to dramatize their plea to the Arroyo administration to abolish the course if it cannot be reformed.
As this developed, Education Secretary Raul S. Roco, in his capacity as chairman of the National Council of Education (NCE), appealed for sobriety even as he described the students' mass action as a democratic process.

"It's a legitimate desire. They are using legitimate means to manifest, to petition for redress of grievances. But there is a consequence. If you don't take ROTC now, unless the law is amended, you cannot graduate," Roco said.

The ROTC cadets, mostly second year college students taking up Military Science (MS) 12, walked out of their regular Sunday training at the UST campus in Sampaloc and the PUP campus in Sta. Mesa.

Regular ROTC training at the University of the Philippines in Diliman in Quezon City, Mapua Institute of Technology (MIT) in Manila and other schools went on smoothly.

Tension gripped the rallyists when a group of UST security guards and UST Golden Corps of Cadet tried to confiscate the streamers of the demonstrators.

Only a handful of UST students remained for the military training that was resumed at a covered walk in front of the College of Engineering building away from the eyes of the public.

Student leaders belonging to the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP), College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), Anakbayan, League of the Filipino Students (LFS) and Student Christian Movement (SCM) are firm on their stand to abolish ROTC.

"The issue of corruption inside ROTC is not a simple case of some corrupt individuals. It is a corruption engendered by an inherent orientiation of fascism. UST student Mark Chua's death was brought about by fascism to defend and protect corruption," said National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) president Cristina Palabay, a convenor for ABOLISH, an umbrella of groups for the abolition of ROTC.

Anakbayan secretary general Apo Alvarez said the country's military system has only served to expose "our youth to fascist culture through this program."

"It has got nothing to do with the issue of instilling nationalism among the youth. Military discipline should not be equated to love of country or nationalism," Alvarez said.

Last June 24, ROTC cadets from the PUP, UST and UP walked out of their classes and staged rallies together with student groups on España St., Manila. Other cadets who joined the boycott and walkout included those from Centro Escolar University, Far Eastern University, University of the East and University of Manila.

LFS president Tanya Guerrero said in a statement that this is a manifestation of the long sufferings being endured by ROTC cadets.

Moves to abolish ROTC became an issue for the second time in 10 years after the death of Chua. His parents filed formal complaints over alleged unscrupulous dealings entered into by some corrupt ROTC officials to fix grades of cadets.