“Should military service be mandatory in the Philippines?

”
Position Paper by Rolando D. Altura V

During the 2022 Elections, Sara Duterte announces that one of her policies if she became Vice
President, was that Mandatory Military Service will be implemented in the Philippines. Now that
she has won the Election, she will push the implementation of Mandatory Military Service in the
Country so that it can bring back the sense of patriotism and discipline of the Younger Generation.
But I as a student and part of the younger generation am against the implementation of Mandatory
Military Service in the Philippines. Before I begin explaining why the implementation of Mandatory
Military Service should not come to pass, we must first know what is Mandatory Military Service.
According to an article by (Calvin Castillo, 2022) “Also known as military conscription, it is when
the state requires individuals in a nation to serve in the military for a certain amount of time. It is
a tactic used by nations to easily call on their citizens in times of war.” This means that civilians
will have to leave their civilian life in order to serve their country for a certain amount of time
(usually 1-3 years) and also enlist people who are the age of 18 and above. Countries such as
South Korea and Israel have mandatory military service implemented in their country. I would like
to point out that both Mandatory Service and ROTC are different. ROTC or Reserve Officers
Training Corps is where high school and college students must participate in military training,
while Mandatory is the actual military service. Now I am going to present the issues or
disadvantages of why Mandatory Military Service should not be implemented and come into
effect.

Interference in Education

First and foremost, I would like to discuss as to why Mandatory Military Service can interfere with
the younger generation’s education. Mandatory Military Service usually enlists people who are
the age of 18 years old and above. And at this age according to (Corinne Llantero, 2022) “Most
18-year-olds are either graduating or have freshly graduated at that point of their lives.” and “Most
people at this age focus mainly on getting into a college and/or finding a career — going out into
the world and finally fulfilling their dreams.” This means that most 18-year-old men (and women)
will have to halt or delay their education and plans in exchange to serve in the military for 1-3
years. This is a problem, especially since these are the people who will shape the future of the
country. Their education should be prioritized first and not have them train or prepare for a conflict
that doesn’t exist.

The Dark History of the ROTC

As I said in my introduction, both ROTC and Mandatory Military Service are different but share
the same aspects to each other. In the case of ROTC, it has had its fair share of controversies
throughout its history here in the Philippines. There are been records of abuse, harassment, and
corruption in the ROTC when it was Mandatory back then. There is one case that showed the
ROTC’s true color and the reason why it is now optional is the case of Mark Welson Chua. In the
Year 2001 Mark Welson Chua was an ROTC cadet at the University of Santo Thomas (UST) who
was found dead in the Pasig River. According to the Article by (Gabriela Baron, 2021) “Chua
died after exposing practices of corruption, bribery, and extortion in the UST ROTC unit to the
Varsitarian in 2001. Varsitarian is the university’s official student publication.” This is the reason
why he is murdered because he exposed the alleged irregularities inside the ROTC. Since then,
joining the ROTC is optional but the irregularities didn’t stop as there were reports of hazing still
happening amongst the ROTC cadets. We should not let the younger generation experience the
same way the former ROTC cadets have gone through. We should not let history repeat itself, we
should learn from it and that is what the Government needed to do.

Funding

For the last part, I would like to discuss how the government will fund the Mandatory Military
Service program. Considering the Government will have to pay an amount of money to provide
millions of recruits with training equipment, training camps, and subsidies. But this is a problem
since the country is in huge debt and the government might not able to provide enough budget to
accommodate the millions of recruits. According to (Louise Maureen Simeon, 2022) “The
country’s debt jumped to a new record high of P13.52 trillion as of end-September amid the
continued weakening of the peso against the dollar, breaching the government’s P13.43-trillion
programmed obligations for 2022, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said.” If the government
poured more money into the military, the other departments like the Education and Healthcare
department will not have enough funds to provide for their needs. According to once again to
(Corinne Llantero, 2022) “President Duterte recently signed the 2022 General Appropriations
Bill, which allocates a budget of P213.78 billion to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). In
comparison, the Department of Health (DOH) was only given P188.3 billion.” This proves that the
Government is pouring more money into the Military rather than other departments like DOH and
this will cause many problems for the country. The Government should handle its funds wisely
and should prioritize paying the Country’s debt in order to prevent the country from deteriorating.

In conclusion, Mandatory Military Service should not be implemented as it can cause more issues
than the country already has. Sure, it has some advantages, but it will not help solve the country’s
problems since implementing it can cause even more problems rather than lessen them. And also
forcing the younger generation to join the military violates people’s right to exercise free will. It is
up to them if they want to serve their country or not because it is their right to do so. The
Philippines is a free country where democracy reigns supreme and where everyone lives their
lives freely. You don’t have to join the military to be patriotic, helping the country to develop and
progress is patriotic enough because you are already showing your love for the country by helping
it progress. The Government should have second thoughts on implementing Mandatory Military
Service as it can only further deteriorate our country.
What’s up with mandatory military service? (Palawan News)
https://palawan-news.com/whats-up-with-mandatory-military-service/

10 meaningful pros and cons of Mandatory Military Service (Studocu)

https://www.studocu.com/ph/document/cotabato-state-university/bs-in-social-work/10-
meaningful-pros-and-cons-of-mandatory-military-service/27978638

#OPINION | Mandatory military service — an exercise in futility (Medium)

https://medium.com/the-science-scholar/opinion-mandatory-military-service-an-exercise-in-
futility-f321b21a2808

Remembering Mark Welson Chua (Manila Bulletin)

https://mb.com.ph/2021/03/18/remembering-mark-welson-chua/

Government debt swells to record P13.5 trillion

https://www.philstar.com/business/2022/11/04/2221320/government-debt-swells-record-p135-
trillion