MANILA, Philippines, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- A senior Philippine government official has called for the return of reserve military training as a prerequisite for graduation from a college or university.
National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, speaking to reporters while on a personal visit to Balanga City, said a Reserve Officers' Training Course would instill patriotism, a necessary ingredient in national unity.
That sense of identity, service and unity had eroded among college students since abolition of compulsory ROTC participation in 2003, he said.
"While patriotism is a factor for a country's unity and progress, it would seem we have less of it these days unlike in the past when there was preparedness among the youth to give one's life for love (of) country," he was quoted Monday by The Manila Times.
He said he had made the recommendation to reinstitute compulsory ROTC to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
The Philippines is struggling with multiple insurgencies. For more than 30 years the communist New Peoples' Army, with guerrillas nationwide, has been trying to topple the central government. In the south of the Philippines Muslim separatists are battling government forces. Adding to the mix recently has been al-Qaida-linked Islamist terror groups.
