Up to 2M reservists eyed once ROTC becomes mandatory

There could be about two million reservists who will be able to augment the reserve force of the Armed Forces of the Philippines every year if the Reserve Officers' Training Corps becomes mandatory again.

This was bared by Major General Joel Alejandro Nacnac, Deputy Chief of Staff for Reservists and Retiree Affairs of the AFP, over the weekend during the opening of the National Reservists Week.

"Every year, if ROTC becomes mandatory, we expect an additional two million students from all of the universities," Nacnac told the reporters in an interview.

He said projected servicemen from ROTC will be classified as a "standby reserve"—which is mobilized only in times of national emergency or war.

The AFP reserve force is currently at 1.2 million as of June 2023, which is composed of over 71,000 "ready reservists," more than 15,000 affiliated units from other organizations and institutions, and 1.1 million standby reservists—with most of them from the Philippine Army.

The ready reservists are called at "any time to add to the regular forces."

The National Reservist Week is the AFP's annual activity of the "purposely to widen the Reserve Force manpower build-up and for the existing reservists to be accounted."

The event also provides reservists an update on the current AFP policies and directives with regard to the Reserve Force Development Programs as well as establish a robust operational Reserve force by way of checking their individual readiness in order to provide support to the Regular Force to fulfill its mandate.

The bill requiring ROTC for students enrolled in at least two years of an undergraduate degree is pending in the Senate plenary.

On the other hand, Senator Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa the government may allot P4.2 billion for free uniforms yearly if the proposed mandatory ROTC program becomes law.

"If it will materialize, every year we're going to budget P4.2B for uniforms alone for cadets," he said in a recent hearing on the budget of the Department of Science and Technology and its attached agencies.

Dela Rosa also made a recommendation that ROTC uniforms should be locally sourced.

The Philippine Textile Research Institute welcomed the senator's suggestion.