Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Metro Manila

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
1st Regular Session

5449

House Bill No.

Introduced by Hon. Francis Gerald Aguinaldo Abaya

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The 1987 Philippine Constitution, in Section 4, Article II, provides:

“SEC. 4. The prime duty of the Government is to serve and protect the
people. The Government may call upon the people to defend the State and, in
the fulfilment thereof, all citizens may be required, under conditions provided
by law, to render personal, military, or civil service.”

This constitutional provision has never been more true and timely in light of
recent events wherein the Philippines becomes duty-bound to defend its territory over
incursions of foreign powers.

The abolition of the mandatory nature of the Reserve Officers Training Corps
(ROTC), through the passage of RA 9163 (National Service Training Program of
2001), has made this constitutional mandate harder to implement. At the rate the
number of college students under the NSTP prefer other forms of civic duty over
ROTC, it is not unimaginable that our country will not have sufficient reserve officers
to call to render military services when warranted by national circumstances, whether
as response to any national security threat or national emergency.

This bill, therefore, seeks to re-institute ROTC as a mandatory course for all
Filipino male college students, repealing for the purpose RA 9163, otherwise known
as the “National Service Training Program (NSTP) Act of 2001

In event of the foregoing, immediate approval of this bill is earnestly sought.

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Representative, First District_Cavite


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Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS.
First Regular Session

House Bill No. 5449

Introduced by Hon. Francis Gerald Aguinaldo Abaya

AN ACT REINSTATING THE MANDATORY RESERVE OFFICERS’ TRAINING CORPS
(ROTC) FPR STUDENTS IN ALL PUBLIC AND PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES, COLLEGES
AND SIMILAR LEARNING INSTITUTIONS

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress
assembled:

SECTION 1. Short Title. — This Act shall be known as the “Mandatory Reserve
Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) Act of 2019",

SECTION 2. Statement of Policy. ~ It is the policy of the State to serve and protect
the people. The government may call upon the people to defend the State in fulfilment
thereof. All citizens may be required, under conditions provided by law, to render personal,
military or civil service

SECTION 3. Coverage. - The Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) shall apply
to all male tertiary students enrolled in public or private universities, colleges, and similar
institutions. It shall form part of the curricula of all baccalaureate degree courses and two-
year technical or vocational courses as requisite for graduation

SECTION 4. Mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). - The Reserve
Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) is hereby declared mandatory for all male students enrolled
in any private or public university, colleges, and similar learning institutions. Universities,
colleges and similar learning institutions shall request for the conduct of military training in
their respective schools, through the Secretary of National Defense for the purpose of
producing enlisted and officer reservists.

The program instruction shall be prescribed by the Secretary of National Defense to
prepare male students for military service. Such course of instruction shall not exceed sixty
(60) consecutive days of summer instruction in the case of enlisted reservists and four (4)


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academic years in the case of officer reservists, which shall include the necessary summer
or probationary training of not more than sixty (60) consecutive days.

The ROTC course of instruction for the enlisted reservist, which shall be mandatory,
shall hereafter be referred to as the Basic ROTC, while the course of instruction for the
officer reservist, which is voluntary, shall hereafter be referred to as Advance ROTC. The
allocation of ROTC units to the various services of the AFP shall conform to the projected
manpower needs of their respective reserve components.

SECTION 5. Acceptance for Advance ROTC. - Students who volunteer for
Advance ROTC shall be screened by an ROTC Acceptance Board which is hereby created
for the purpose, composed of the commandant of the ROTC unit, a representative of the
school nominated by the school authorities, and a military physician. The student volunteer
shall be physically for fitness for training of his own volition. Where the student is below
eighteen (18) years of age, he shall be required to obtain parents’ or guardian’s consent. In
the case of students volunteering for reserve officers’ training, they shall further be subject to
competitive examination. The students undergoing Advance ROTC shall be referred to as
Advance ROTC Cadets.

SECTION 6. Persons Disqualified of Exempted. - The following students are
disqualified or exempted from the coverage:

a. Students who are physically or psychologically unfit, as certified by the medical
personnel of the university or institution concerned;

b. Those convicted by final judgment of criminal offenses involving moral turpitude;

¢. Students of universities, colleges, and other similar leaming institutions who have
undergone or are still undergoing ROTC or similar military training as recognized
by the military authorities as among those undergoing training to qualify as
reservists; and

d. Those persons who are members of affiliated units in the Armed Forces of the
Philippines and the Philippine National Police.

‘SECTION 7. Implementing Rules and Regulations. — Within six (6) months from
the effectivity of this Act, the Secretary of Education shall, in coordination with the
Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and the Department of National Defense (DND),
issue the necessary rules and regulations to carry out the objectives of this Act.

SECTION 8. Repealing Clause. - For purposes of this Act, pertinent provisions of
Republic Act No. 9163, otherwise known as the “National Service Training Act of 2001” is

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hereby deemed amended. All other laws, executive orders, presidential decrees, rules and
regulations or parts thereof which are inconsistent with any provisions of this Act are hereby
repealed or modified accordingly.

SECTION 9. Effectivity. — This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days following its
publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation

Approved,