SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian vowed to push for a bill that aims to reinstate the Reserved Officers Training Corps in the basic education system.

Gatchalian believes that military training gives the students additional skills for disaster response, in terms of responding to calamities, and also other accidents.

“We need to give our senior high school students additional skills. Military training doesn’t mean that we want them to go to war, but the discipline, the love for our country, and especially the skills that we can give them will enable them to respond to the time, especially because our country is one of the most vulnerable countries in terms of disasters,” he said.

However, he stressed that mandatory ROTC should be designed around the academics of the students and make sure that it is not another burden for them.

“We have to make sure that our students are not overburdened also with a lot of activities,” he stressed.

He explained that one of the biggest complaints of experts is the curriculum is too congested.

“I’m leaving this to the discussion in the Senate as to how to design the ROTC, when we bring back ROTC, how to design it properly, but in short, my thoughts on ROTC, it gives additional skills to our students that will enable them to respond to the times,” the senator said.