CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE Presented in this chapter are foreign and local literatures and studies gathered from online resources used by the researchers in the pursuit of this paper in order to have a more accurate study. This helped the researchers have a better understanding and a wider perspective on this issue. LOCAL LITERATURE As a sub-field of Strategic Studies and Political Science, the study of civilmilitary relations, focuses on the (Lovell, 1974) “threat posed by the military institution (the existence of a large professional army) to the popular rule by a civilian government, and to the individual citizen’s political and civil rights.” The military program’s model was in parallel with that of the United States of America which started in 1862 where it was instigated as an elective for college students. (Changco & Santiago, 2013) The pioneer unit of the ROTC was the University of the Philippines ROTC Unit or the UP Vanguards which was established in 1922. Followed by the founding of the ROTC units in National University, Ateneo de Manila, Liceo de Manila, and Colegio de San Juan de Letran, until number of schools nationwide adopted the military program after the endorsement of the Commonwealth Act No. 1. As cited in Article VI, Section 35 of the Commonwealth Act No. 1 or the National Defense Act of 1935, the concept of ROTC came into its being with only schools and institutions designated by the President to maintain and establish a Reserve Officers’ Training Units, mandatory for every physically fit student to pursue a course of military instruction designed to qualify him for a commission as a Third Lieutenant of reserve with a power to choose where would he want to render service.
During the Second World War, the army reserves produced by the ROTC program were first put into action. The ROTC cadets from the 33 colleges and universities who have active units took part and were first seen in action during the Second World War. Cadets from different Metro Manila units took part in the defense of Bataan, while in the Visayas, 45 percent of the 75th Infantry Regiment of the US Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) were ROTC cadets of Silliman University. In 1967, President Ferdinand Marcos issued Executive Order No. 59, making ROTC a mandatory course in all colleges and universities with an enrollment of at least 250 male students. A noteworthy development during this period was a program called “Rainbow Rangers-Sunday soldiers.” It provided an alternative to what was basically a ceremony-centered ROTC training program. It exposed the cadets to small unit tactics, unconventional warfare and home defense techniques. The mandatory ROTC program was scrummed in the college level’s curriculum in year 2002, after the reported death of a ROTC cadet Mark Wilson Chua, student of University of Santo Tomas, allegedly killed by his co-cadets and upper-class men after exposing corruption in the UST ROTC corps. Following the passage of Republic Act 9163, an Act Establishing the National Service Training Program (NSTP), unlike the ROTC, on the other hand, lets college students to choose and complete at least one of its three components to be able to graduate for a period of only two (2) academic semesters: the ROTC program, which provides military training; Literacy Training Service (LTS), which provides training on teaching basic reading and math; and Civic Welfare Training Service (CWTS), which involves students in activities contributing to community welfare, such as caring for the environment, public safety, health, sports, and entrepreneurship, as defined in Section 3 of RA 9163. “What is needed to support the Armed Forces is a citizen army of welltrained reserves that can make life difficult for any invader. Just as the threat of
war with Japan served as an impetus for the build-up of our Armed Forces before World War II, let us use the threats that come from bullies in the neighborhood to prepare our youth for the defense of the homeland. It is time to restore the mandatory two-year basic ROTC military training program that existed in the past. Whatever mistakes or abuses were committed then should not be allowed to happen again.” Said Brig. Gen. Rolando Jungco, Commander, Armed Forces of the Philippines Civil Relations Service (CRS). Several bills were filed at the House of Representatives but none of them reached second reading. Movements coming from the uniformed sector have been blabbing about the reinstatement of the ROTC, until President Rodrigo Duterte’s 1st State of the Nation Address came where he mentioned his stand that ROTC must be put back in to practice and should be held mandatory for all college students. It was then Valenzuela City Congressman now Senator Win Gatchalian filed and sponsored House Bill No. 2338, which seeks to make Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) mandatory to every male student in the tertiary education and even in Senior High School. He said that the bill aims to optimize the students for service through appropriate physical and mental training. He also exposed that he was also a product of ROTC in college. “We need to help them develop their national spirit, and promote self-confidence and camaraderie. Our youth should also be physically strong and alert without having to spend membership in a gym,” Gatchalian said. The ROTC program, according to the Organization of Generals and Flag Officers, prepares male students for national defense and trains them with leadership skills and the basics of military service in order to produce capable Armed Forces reservists. FOREIGN LITERATURE
Establishment of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps or Student Military Training Service in different countries has three foremost objectives namely: to allow students to grasp basic military skills and theory, and enhance their understanding of defense and consciousness of national security. On an article by John Chan in World Socialist Web Site on the 10 th day of May 2007- Chinese government is imposing nationwide military training for students of the country to achieve not only the three main goals of the latter but also to strengthen the submission of students to “organization” and “discipline”, as well as to instill the values of “patriotism”, “collectivism” and “revolutionary heroism”. On this article he discussed why should a government call for a compulsory national military training for students in high school and tertiary level and how will it effect on their educational record. Scholarship is one of the reasons why a student of the American government underwent with this course. On the article written by David L. Leal, Students in Uniform: ROTC, the Citizen-Soldiers, and the Civil-Military Gap, it tell in details how and when the ROTC rooted in the country, what are the parallel benefit if a student will participate in the said course and the equal responsibility as a student taking part of the program. In the United States of America there was a time that this course was banned mainly because of lack of academic standards and some instructor and students believed that this is just a dummy for the military during the Vietnam War last 1960. University that banned this program includes the most notable institutions in the United States like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Brown, Dartmouth, Stanford and Columbia, also known as the elite schools in the higher education. In the article “The Pendulum Swing: The Fall and Return of ROTC to Elite Campuses, and Why It Matters” by Donald Downs, the author/writer give the good standing why the ROTC is needed to be reinstated in the elite universities and how this program can be beneficial with the school and to the students.
Who will be best fitted to enter the ROTC in the America? Young fitted men or women? This was the question answered in the book of Michael S. Neiberg entitled: Making Citizen-Soldiers: ROTC and the Ideology of American Military Service. On this book, it focuses the discussion on the history of ROTC in America; its creation and evolution, who founded the program and where the concept came from. It also gives a short review on the pathways that the course had gone through the years. During the time of the Pres. Roosevelt, those young boys aged 16 to 19 are put in training with the compulsory in nature. There are several records showing the rise and fall of the number of young boys who entered the said course. The best place to have this training was in a public school. This was been justified in the article of Lewis Paul Todd, “Does the Probability of Compulsory Military Training Pose a Problem for the Public Schools?” SYNTHESIS The reason for ROTC’s establishment has always been about raising the sense of patriotism and nationalism in the youth with the proper training in order for them to become leaders and citizens with discipline that can be added to the militia for the protection of the country. The history of ROTC in the country showed how the program was created out of goals that serve the betterment of the students as citizens and the heightened quality protection that they can provide. Even though problems arose throughout its implementation before and in the present, the fact remains that the goals of ROTC are purely nationalistic in nature. However, the goals of other countries with ROTC are more on the students to grasp the military skills and theory as well as raising the awareness with defense and national security. In comparison, they are more militaristic in nature and focus less on the benefits that ROTC can bring to the growth of a student’s sense of self and leadership. Although American studies pursued the ways on how to increase the students who will take up ROTC and suggested changes to the way the program works in order for more students to participate and increase their leadership skills. The literature and studies presented showed
a comparison of the reasons why ROTC is implemented in schools in different countries, whether they are more militaristic in nature or patriotic and engages to the self-growth of the students. Also, the literature gathered can be used as guidance on how to improve ROTC in the Philippines for a better and more comprehensive application that can lessen the abuse that sprout from improper implementation of the program.
