Image: Instagram/@akosilolitsolis
For veteran talent manager Lolit Solis, it appears that there are a lot of benefits in mandatory military training for the youth.
For one, she believes the prevalence of illegal drug use among the youth could be prevented if there is a mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program.
In his privilege speech yesterday, Nov. 27, Senator Manny Pacquiao pushed for the approval of Senate Bill No. 189 which he filed in June 2016. The bill seeks the revival of mandatory military training for senior high school students.
Solis expressed her support for the bill even before Pacquiao’s speech, via her Instagram post on Monday, Nov. 26. She lauded South Korean actors who put aside their careers to enlist in military training to serve their country for two years.
“Dati naman may ROTC tayo, ‘di ko alam kung bakit nawala, sana nga mabalik ito,” she wrote. “Baka nga kung meron pa nito sa school baka naiwasan pa ng iba ang illegal drugs dahil matindi ang physical training.”
(Back then we have [mandatory] ROTC, I don’t know why it was removed, I hope it will be reinstituted. Perhaps if there is still mandatory military training in schools, many could have avoided using illegal drugs because of the strenuous physical training.)
Solis said military training would instill discipline in young people. She added that ROTC provides a good foundation for the youth which would help them avoid temptations.
“Kung lalaki ako pipiliin ko ang mandatory military training, dagdag ito sa lakas ko bilang lalaki,” she explained.
(If I am a man, I would choose mandatory military training as it would make me a stronger man.)
The mandatory ROTC was scrapped in 2001 following the backlash over the death of University of Santo Tomas student Mark Welson Chua, who was killed by cadet officers in the university after he exposed the corrupt practices of the ROTC program there.
The Republic Act No. 9163 or the National Service Training Program (NSTP) Act was enacted a year later in 2002, which allows students to choose between ROTC, Literacy Training Service and Civil Welfare Training Service. JB
RELATED STORIES:
Lolit Solis says Filipinos are lucky: ‘Mawala lang ang drugs, tatahimik na tayo’
Lolit Solis on kissing Duterte: ‘Bakit hindi? Ipagmamalaki ko pa’