House approves NCST, ROTC bill on third and final reading

The House of Representatives approved on Thursday, December 15, a bill to establish a two-year mandatory National Citizens Service Training (NCST) program and an optional four-year Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program in the country.

With 276 affirmative votes, four negatives and one abstention, the House has approved on its third and final reading House Bill No. 6687 or the proposed National Service Training Program Act, which was previously certified as urgent by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.

Marcos emphasized the country’s need for Filipinos to perform their constitutional duty to serve in the military or civil service in times of calamity, national or local emergencies, rebellion, occupation, or war.

“This shall be made possible by the establishment of a unified, comprehensive, and holistic national citizens service training and mobilization system,” Marcos stated.

Under HB 6687, the NCST program will be effectively implemented by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) in all public and private higher education institutions (HEIs) and by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in all post-secondary technical- vocational institutions (TVIs), which will also be consulted with the Department of National Defense (DND).
Speaker Martin Romualdez, Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe, Voice Party-list Representatives Yedda Romualdez and Jude Acidre, are some of the authors of the proposal.

Romualdez thanked his colleagues for the quick progress and approval of HB 6687.

“The House of Representatives has been working really hard–day in and day out–to pass many important pieces of legislation that we all believe will contribute immensely to nation-building. And the NCSTP bill is one of them,” Romualdez stated.

“I congratulate all my colleagues in the lower chamber, even the ones who expressed opposition to the measure, for the resulting bill is one that has undergone rigorous scrutiny. And for that, we accomplish our role here in the Legislature with flying colors,” he added.

According to House Committee on higher and technical education chair Mark Go, sponsor of such a move, the Civic Welfare and Training Service (CWTS) and Literary Training Service (LTS) that are part of the National Service Training Program (NSTP) Law will be integrated into the program. .

“In keeping with the changing times it is incumbent upon us to promote the level of discipline, leadership, and patriotic character of every Filipino youth,” said Go.

“With the passage of this bill, we endeavor to instill among the youth patriotism, love of country, moral and spiritual virtues, respect for human rights and adherence to the Constitution,” he added.

Several youth groups have slammed the bill, citing the potential for abuse and corruption in the ROTC program, a problem that has been well documented in the past, as well as imposing an additional economic and academic burden on students and their parents. They also expressed fear about the possibility of mandatory ROTC being used as an instrument for red-tagging and quashing voices of dissent on campus.