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 civil-

military 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 citizens political and civil rights.

The military programs 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 levels

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 well-

trained 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
Dutertes 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 ROTCs 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
students 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.