Philippine navy boosts reservists as China tensions, mandatory military training calls grow

The latest batch of 48 civilian workers enlisted under the Philippines' reserve force for its navy marks a coup of sorts, comprising Senate staff who could potentially aid in nudging through military bills.

The special Basic Citizen Military Training course, arranged by actor-senator Robinhood Padilla, also reignited debate on whether mandatory or voluntary training served to better assist the country's armed forces to deal with the mounting geopolitical tensions in the region.

Padilla is among senators vigorously pushing to turn the current voluntary Reserved Officers' Training Course (ROTC) programme for university students into a compulsory one.

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The obligatory rule, implemented by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Snr in 1967, was made optional by a 2001 law following public outcry over the death of student Mark Welson Chua who exposed corruption in ROTC training.

Invoking "patriotism" and a "common cause", Navy Flag Officer-in-Command Vice-Admiral Toribio Adaci Jnr on Tuesday told the new reservists: "We really appreciate you joining the Philippine navy at this time when our country is facing formidable challenges in our maritime environment."

The navy now has 215,000 men and women in its reserve force, according to Major General Joseph Ferrous Cuison, chief of the Naval Reserve Command.

The Philippine Senate, with only 24 lawmakers, performs a special role in crafting legislation, while 13 of its members also have a hand in approving the promotion of all senior military officers through the powerful Commission on Appointments.

The latest recruits, who attended the passing out ceremony at the navy headquarters, comprised mostly Senate employees across a range of positions, aged 27 to 63.

They also underwent an arduous 20-day training that included target shooting and taking apart a firearm, culminating in a survival mission where they trudged three days and two nights in wild terrain, scaling a mountain in the town of Ternate, Cavite, northeast of Manila.

The participants slept on the ground, survived on crackers and canned food, and were not allowed to carry mobile phones, toiletries or any comforts of modern life.

"I joined the navy because it's on the front lines," said 47-year-old recruit Francesca Jucutan, a staffer at Senator Christopher "Bong" Go's office, referring to Manila's territorial dispute with Beijing in the South China Sea.

Mitcheln Palmerola, 45, who is in staff support for a Senate committee, said the drills would be useful in case of any emergency. "I learned to conquer my fear of water and of heights," she said. "Part of the training included jumping off a navy ship, climbing a mountain and rappelling down."

Scarlet Odulio, a Philippine Postal Corporation worker, sported pearl earrings to mark the special occasion, saying she signed up for "the love of country". "I won the award for best in physical training at my age of 52," she added, grinning.

Navy chief Adaci told the graduates a programme was being prepared to vastly improve the reserve force's "interoperability" with the navy. "The reservist plays an important role in our national security and during times of disasters, crises and other challenges."

The navy has attracted celebrities, too. In a videotaped message to the recruits, actor Jose Sixto "Dingdong" Dantes III shared that when he joined as a reservist in 2006: "I only had one question: how else can I serve the country and the people."

The force hoped its officers in the Senate would help push forward long-pending bills, a task reservist Rommel Escudero pledged to prioritise.

"It's a perfect match between the [Senate and the navy]. We will help [the navy] out in their legislative needs and matters," said the director of the Senate Legislative-Executive Liaison Service, who serves as president of the fresh recruits, collectively called the "Sandigang Alab Batch 10".

A bill introduced last year to develop a home-grown arms industry is still stuck in the Senate defence committee.

At Tuesday's event, Senator Padilla underscored the need to make ROTC compulsory as a way of further boosting external defence and the government's ability to cope with humanitarian and environmental crises.

A bill Padilla co-sponsored and awaiting the Senate's approval would require all college graduates to undergo a two-year course of basic military training.

Ricardo Jose, a University of the Philippines professor emeritus of history, said enhancing the reserve force, not compulsory enlistment, was the key to preparing the country for any conflict in the contested waterway.

"Build up the reserves, not so much through mandatory training, but through appealing to nationalism and a sense of duty."

Jose recalled his own ROTC which consisted mostly of marching drills, and only once did he practise firing a gun. "When we finished, what were our ranks? We were just privates [the lowest], not even private first class."

Lawmakers' bid to roll out the scheme got a boost in a December 2023 survey by private pollster Pulse Asia that showed 69 per cent of Filipinos supported the initiative for "all youths".

But the Catholic Education Association of the Philippines disclosed a poll conducted by it last April found 53 per cent of students in private schools opposed the move, which a former education secretary said had the "right motivation but the wrong strategy".

"From a youth perspective and an educational perspective, anything that you legislate as mandatory is taken very negatively by young people," former secretary of education Armin Luistro said.

"So instead of appreciating the programme, even if it is a good one that builds nationalism ... the effect will be exactly the reverse ... most of them will end up resenting the military."

Luistro, who went through the drills at the high school CAT (Civil Army Training) and enforced ROTC in college, said "obviously there's abuse, but I will not use that to argue against it".

He said that when he was De La Salle University president and ROTC became an elective, "I saw that those who actually enrolled were the ones who really liked to go through the training, and they were happy to do it." Some went on to join the military, he recalled.

Luistro suggested that instead of making ROTC mandatory, the military should instead project how many reservists it needs yearly and target "good quality reservists who are patriotic about the country", and offer incentives such as army college scholarships and free uniforms.

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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