MANILA — Activist group Anakbayan urged lawmakers Tuesday to reconsider their decision to push for the passage of a law making the Reserved Officers Training Corps (ROTC) program mandatory again.

• Dela Rosa confident Senate will pass 'mandatory ROTC' bill in 2023

Anakbayan deputy spokesperson Amanda Verdadero said teaching discipline among the youth can be done without resorting to a mandatory ROTC program.

The program is also an added burden to the workloads of students.

"Wala pa ngang face-to-face classes marami na tayong academic loads. Akala ng estado kayang buhayin ng lahat ng estudyante itong binibigay nila. Dagdag worry rin ito sa mga estudyante dahil nga mandatory siya, pag hindi ka nag-take hindi ka ga-graduate," she said.

• Kabataan party-list, students protest mandatory ROTC

Verdadero also cited cases where alleged abuses have been committed against students who participated in the ROTC program, such as the 2001 killing of Mark Welson Chua, a student from the University of Santo Tomas.

Chua exposed the corruption in their ROTC department back then in an article published in their university publication.

"Hindi lang naman si Mark Nelson Chua ang nagiging biktima. Ang dami rin na mga estudyante ang naging biktima ng mandatory ROTC, maraming branches ng abuse," Verdadero said.

Last January, Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa expressed confidence that they would be able to fund the ROTC program because it is one of the priority measures under the Marcos administration.

House Bill No. 6687 or the National Citizens Service Training Program Act was certified urgent by President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.

• Student groups say ‘No to mandatory ROTC’

Despite resistance from youths and different groups, the bill seeking to make the ROTC mandatory at the tertiary level is among the priority measures anticipated to be passed by Congress on June 2.

The National Service Training Program (NSTP) Act, which was enacted in 2002 under the leadership of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, made the ROTC “optional and voluntary.”