COMMISSION on Higher Education Chairman Prospero De Vera III favored the revival of the mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC), noting it should be ‘skills-based’.

“I want an ROTC program that is very heavily skills-based, not the usual marching, putting people under the sun, etc. That’s not skills-building,” De Vera stressed.

“Why can’t we capacitate every young Filipino who goes to ROTC to be able to learn how to swim? And to save people who don’t know how to swim, basic life-saving skills,” he added.

The higher education official stressed schools can make partnerships with agencies that would train students on such skills.

“It’s easy to do that, you work with the Philippine Red Cross groups, you work with a lot of civic groups to train them what to do during disasters, how to prepare for disasters, how to evacuate individuals, etc. There are so many things that we can train our young people to do,” De Vera pointed out.

De Vera said CHED is willing to work with the lawmakers for the implementation of the program.

“There are so many bills that have been filed already, but the directions are going different ways. Some want it in Senior High. Some want to give uniforms to ROTC cadets. There are so many initiatives,” he added.