Pacquiao urges youth to take up ROTC

Manny Pacquiao has called on the country’s college students to choose military service training among the courses offered under the mandatory National Training Service Program to prepare them to defend the country in case of external aggression.

“Bravery and patriotism are characters in the heart of every Filipino.  But the cause of defending one’s country also requires preparedness and skills to be able to succeed,” said Pacquiao, a voluntary reservist with the rank of lieutenant colonel in the AFP Reserve Force.

Now running for senator, Pacquiao issued a strong appeal to college students to take up Reserve Officers Training Corps program from among the four NTSP courses that they have to enroll in.  A student is required to finish one NTSP course as a requisite for graduation.

Pacquiao, a member of the United Nationalist Alliance senatorial slate, also called on the Commission on Higher Education and the Department of Defense to work out strategies for the implementation of a massive information dissemination campaign that would encourage the youth to undergo ROTC training.

“Nobody wants war but no Filipino want to see their country easily crushed in case of foreign invasion,” he stressed.

Taking time off his rigid training for the upcoming international fight against American champion Timothy Bradley, Pacquiao discussed with a group of young Filipino-Americans his plan to rally the country’s college students to volunteer for ROTC training as part of their patriotic duty to defend Philippines in case of war.

“I hope to inspire our youth to spend a portion of their time in strengthening their sense of patriotic duty,” he said.

Pacquiao previously held the rank of senior master sergeant, the highest post possible for a military reservist who does not have a college degree.

Philippine laws grant elected officials holding national post such as congressmen and senators to hold the rank of commissioned officers in the reserve military force.

After being conferred a honorary doctorate degree in humanities in the Southwestern University in Cebu in 2009, the Philippine Army promoted Pacquiao to the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Under Republic Act 7077 or the AFP Reservist Act of 1991, elected officials and presidential appointees may be commissioned into the Reserve Force subject to existing AFP rules and regulations.