The reserve officers training corps

Media

Part of Philippine Armed Forces Journal

Title
The reserve officers training corps
Language
English
Source
Philippine Armed Forces Journal Volume IX (No. 6) June 1956
Year
1956
Rights
In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
Fulltext
JUNE U56 The ''Reserve Officers Training Corps" By Captain Ishmael C. Albano, In! in the making. The ROTC's real import and the necessity foJr its exist· try will mark the lOth anni- ence have not been fully re<:ognized versary of their foundation and app1eciated. as a re-constituted and re.established The public seems to have lost sight unit of the Armed Forces of the Phil- of the fact that the ROTC is one of iJipines. The general impression of the most powerful potential weapons the public seems to be that the ROTC representing as it does the "cream is nothing more than a glamourized of the youth of the land". It canassociation of college or university not be denied that students taking boys .in khaki uniform st1·uting up up the ROTC course make up an and down college campuses or pa. enlightened and intelligent group rading the city streets whenever a who can easily be trained and in. national celebration of any kind it:~ fluenced. For this matter, the ROTC PHILIPPINES .ARMED •'ORCES JOURNA l. has formed a vital role in the train. do B. Rigor, AFP Comptroller Simeon ing of the youth of the land. Re- Valdez and a host of oth.,;· r~nking C!:!rds and performance of ROTC present day leaders, are living testigt·a'duate~ during the last war arc monials of the products of our ROTC. eloquent proof of the advisability The history of the ROTC, however, t t and importa'Ilce of such training. It can be traced further than 10 years is even a matter of common know! ago. It can be traced further back to edge now that graduates of the 1912 when military training was ROTC cout·se have demonstrated first conducted in the State Univertnits of leadership and efficiency sity. Military instruction was concomparable to graduates of any mi- ducted informally under an officer litary academy. Such successes of of the then Philippine Constal:iuiary. these men have not only been limited To raise the standard of training, to purely military affairs but also however, the Board of Regents on been extended to civilian posts. Grad- Nov. 9, 1921 asked the Governor Gen uates of the ROTC like ex- Sec. Fred era! to request the U.S. War Depart-Ruiz Gastt·o, ex-Sen. Macario Peral. ment for the services of a US Army ta, Congressmen Ferdinand Marcos officer as a professor of Military Sci. and Antonio Raquiza, MRR Manager On March 17, 1922, a US Salvador Villa, NARlC Gen. Man- Army officer reported to th(< State "-ger Jacinto T. Gavino, Col. Conra- University and the Board of Regents 8o•kol/y and principally, th• IIOTC •till provide. the cadet• with mo"lilarr training Jul ficient Ia qualil1 them 01 nan-cammiuianed ollkers and ruerve ollicero ol the reJerve unit• ol our citizen ormr Photo •haws Pru. Mag,oy•or addrening ~OTC coder.. t , t~eoreric<>l and pranicol training. P~oro ,.,.,,., , cadet• /iring lOS mrn howitzers authorized the establishment of a movement, and shortly thereafter, DepaTtment of MilitaJ·y Science and these colleges began the orga'Jlization Tactics. The course of instruction of thiir P.OTC Units. To the Rev. actual!y started on July 3, 1922. Fr. Luis Mariiio belongs the credit I11'the early part of 1921, the Rec- of being responsible for the organitors of Liceo de Manila, Colegio de zation of the Letran ROTC Unit, San Ju~n de Letran and the Ateneo and to the Rev. Fr. W. Y. Byrnes de Manila, instituted a similar that of Ateneo de Manila. The pio.,. movement to give military instruc. neer commandants of these early tion in their schools. On Nov. 25, units wert> Capt. H. E. Henion and 1921. Gov. Gen. Wood approved of this Lt. Guevarra for Letran, and Col. It is a matter of common knowledge now that' graduates o/ the" ROTC course have demonstrated t~aits of leadi;rship and efficiency ~mparable "'lo". graduates of any wl't i tar y ¥c lin?: my Th• c!ou of 1936, Univeflitf of lh1 Phi/ippin., ROTC under G•nerol fid•l V S•gundo front row, from left Thoma• C. hnilu, Sol•odor T. ViHo, Co/. Nem.,io Colo/on, Col Sol•odor f. Ref"· Gen~rol S•gundo, Col. JuanS. Marc"'• Carmela z. lorb~ro, Sol•odor J Compoo !deceased/. Second row· Bi•nunido Ang•let, Rocarda Ba.loio, Juu1 Colfjl/o, Sol•odar Abcede, Simeon M Valdez, Sebo11ion Jovelo1o, C 8 •igor, Ale;ondro Jim•nu, feli• S. Moniego. Third row. Niconor T Jim•n•z, Alberto feniJ<, Al•tondro R•golo, Amodeo P Villonu• •o, Solipodo P•ndalun, and Jose Anv•da Antonio Torres !or Ateneo. These because the colleges wanted their stuofficers and those who followed dtnt.s to enjoy a certain degrel' of them !or the next fourteen years military p1·estige which the mililarr were a.H US Army officers. When elements at that time would have these Jlioneer units were first organ enjoyed by reason of the victory of ized, there was little thought if any the Allies in l!HS. at all, of fo1·ming rese1·ve forces. In 1924, a similaJ' unit was set up These Units were organized simply in the National University. That supply and training. Encouraged by the success of these ROTC Units and ret:ognizing their potential eapa· bilities, the government took steps to generalize the movement with the in. elusion of Sec. 35, 36 37 & 38 in the National Defense Act providing fo1· the establishment and mainten. ance of ROTC Units in the colleges and universities as the President of the Philippines may designatf'. As part of the pre-war plans for national mobilization, the g1·aduates of the ROTC Units were to be Jnadc a pool of officers to fil! up vacancies in the reserve force. Control of all ROTC units then in existence in 1935 passed on to the Philippine Army. Col. Salvador F. Reyes, as the first designated Superintendent of ROTC Units, was given the mis sion of building up the ROTC Unit.s. As of Dec. 1941, shortly before the outbreak of the Pacific War, 33 colleges and universities throughout the country were operating and maintaining ROTC units with an averagP enrollment of 24,000 annually. All these unit.s ceased operation at the outbreak of the Pacific hostilistarted a chain reaction and othe1 ties until they were re-activated and colleges and universities followed re-constituted on July 6, 1946. Needsuit. With the advent of the Com- less to say, ROTC cadets an.d gradmonwealth period, the organization uates who joined the armed forces and developmeJ>t of a regular stand. made a name for the ROTC. ing army and a reserve force were Activated shortly after ~iberation, given impetus. When the Philippine 29 ROTC units re-opened in July 1947. Constabulary became the nucleus of The training period contemplnted a the Philippine Army in conformity period of 3 years with 8 weeks of with the plan of gradually enlarg- summer training. The objet:tives of ing the Philippine Army, the ROTC ROTC training were broadened to Units• of these colleges :md univer- include: (1} giving college and sities were placed under the admi- university students theoretical and nistration of the Philippine Army for pt·actica\ training for the military service in order to meet the require- were suspended for lack ·of of. ments for well.trained commissioned ficers to handle the training. When personnel of the reserve force; (2) the Armed Forces was re-organized giving sufficient basic military in 1950 with the creation of the four training tc qualify students for com- Military Areas, t he ROTC Units mission as officers in the reserve; found within the Jurisdiction of these and (3) developing national spirit areas fell under their control--- and for the realb:ation of their obliga- supervision, and only the •. ROTC tions and responsibilities to the units in Manila and vicinity were State. retained under the control and juWhen the communist-inspired dis- risdiction of the Superintendent of sidence movement started to flare up ROTC Units. in 1948, most of the AFP officer- At its inception, ROTC units were instructors were sent out to the field established solely to provide the to combat the new menlfte, and as a Az·med Forces with reserve commis result, additional R 0 T C units sioned officers. It was later found out to be the cheapest asd easiest way of instruction has now been designed prOducing rese1·vists, and therefore, to awaken in the cadets a more ag: was e~loited to provide the Armed gt·essive spirit of civic consciousness Forces with privates and non-com- and a more active interest in commissioned officers to fill up what munity projects, in addition to pro. could not be produced in trainee viding them with training to qualify training in view of the lack of full them to assume positions of leaderfinancial support. ship in their respective communities . . Today, th~ concept of ROTC train:ue~~~~te!~~e~i~~e~en~- 0~a~~~· ~:~ mg has . r~dtcally changed from that nita ROTC Units, acting on the inof_ lll" OV!dmg only ~o~lege gtude_nts structions of Col. Nicanor Velarde, w1t~ the degree ~f _m1htary preshge. PATC commander, has shifted the B~i!cally. and prmc!pally,. the ~-OTC weight of instruction in the ROTC st1l~ ~rov1des_t~e cadets w~th m1htary to the fighting services like the lntraJmng suff1c1ent to quahfy them as fantry and the Artillery _ a virtual non-commissioned officers and re- acknowledgment of the potential caserve officers of the reserve units of pabilities of ROTC cadets 25 real our citizen army. The urogram of fighting men of our citizen army.