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THE
ROTC: EXCISING A CANCER
An Official Statement of the University Belt Consortium
Posted on www.thomasians.net on 6/7/2001 11:28:15 AM
The
Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program is supposed
to realize the constitutional mandate to develop a strong
civilian base to supplement the professional military in the
nation’s defense system. Made compulsory for male students
in colleges and universities, it is designed to initiate young
men in the rudiments of soldiership, instilling in them discipline
and correct deportment, like true officers and gentlemen.
But
many are of the opinion that the ROTC has seen better days.
Worse, there is the growing perception that the program has
steadily deteriorated through the years. Many young men look
at it as a waste of time and money; they would rather devote
for study and rest the long hours of those weekends that they
are made to take up the program through four semesters of
college. In an era of spiraling costs, they even wonder if
the training they receive is worth the money they spend for
ROTC.
Considering,
too, the compulsory drawn-out and over-regimented two-year
program, in which the student allegedly receives little instruction
and benefit but much hardship and harassment, it is no surprise
that reports of irregularities and abuses are rampant and
persistent. Reports cover collection of unauthorized fees,
bribery, and extortion. These reports reflect the anomalous
situation in which the military administers the ROTC program
in the school while the school administration does not have
any say on how that program is run. Since invariably the ROTC
is the male student’s first brush with the military, the irregularities
and abuses he sees or experiences while taking part in the
program become his first – and lasting – impression of the
military: corrupt, abusive, and hiding behind the veneer of
the nation’s defense system to prey on defenseless civilians.
This impression does not necessarily do justice to the military
at large.
In
December last year, Mark Welson Chua, a cadet officer of the
ROTC program of the University of Santo Tomas, together with
another officer and several cadets, filed a complaint of irregularities
with ......
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