Senator withdraws bill for mandatory ROTC in Senior High

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian withdrew his bill to institutionalize the mandatory Reserve Officers Training Corps stating the huge budget needed to implement it.

The Department of National Defense estimated that requiring Grade 11 and 12 students to undergo ROTC would cost P9.2 billion.

“At this present time of trying to reduce budget deficit, trying to allocate funds to improve school system, P9.2 billion is quite a hefty sum,” Gatchalian said.

The senator also mentioned the high drop-out rate.

Data from the Department of Education showed that 51 percent, or about 1.4 million learners, who enrolled in 2010 dropped out before completing senior high school in 2022.

“This is actually a much pressing problem to be solved by DepEd,” Gatchalian said.

But, Gatchalian filed Senate Bill 1551 for the reinstatement of the mandatory ROTC in college.