DepEd, DND talks ROTC program

Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte said “ideas were exchanged” on the proposed mandatory military training requirement for citizens.

“We also talked about the ROTC (Reserve Officers’ Training Corps) program … not just in basic education but in higher education and what will be the ways moving forward,” Duterte said.

The DepEd and the Department of National Defense(DND) started talks for the “Preparatory Citizenship Training (PCT)” program.

Dexter Galban, assistant secretary for youth affairs and special concerns of the DND, in a Facebook post on Aug. 31 said the PCT program was a “prelude to a multitiered, well safeguarded, multifaceted citizenship program.”

Galban said the program would not be the “ROTC that you know,” which only involved marching.