Lorenzana sees hurdles in proposed mandatory military service

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Thursday said funds and resources would be the big challenge in implementing the proposed mandatory military service for all 18-year-old Filipinos.

In a statement, Lorenzana said training camps should be set up across the country considering that millions of people who reached 18 years old would be accommodated.

“There are huge hurdles in implementing this: First, are the funds and resources. Training camps would need to be established all over the land, and manpower and funds must be allocated to accommodate the millions who will reach the age of 18 every year,” he said.

Lorenzana issued the statement after Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, who is running for vice president in the 2022 elections, said she would propose to Congress to pass a bill that would make military service mandatory for all Filipinos aged 18, male and female.

Lorenzana, a retired Army general, said another hurdle is the objections that would surely come from those who are not inclined to serve in the military.

Aside from this, he noted that the country is not in preparation to maintain a war and has little need to use more people in the military.

“We are not on war footing and there will be little need of a general mobilization,” he said.

Lorenzana said the Department of National Defense supports the suggestion considering its advantages such as having more trained reservists and disciplined citizens.

Better alternative

However, Lorenzana said a "better alternative" would be making Reserved Officers’ Training Corp (ROTC) mandatory again in universities and colleges.

"The implementation of mandatory ROTC in private and public schools is the better alternative," he said. We are already starting to implement this in the State Universities and Colleges."

He added that the DND believes that the product of the ROTC program "is more than sufficient to meet our requirements for warm bodies in case of conflict and in times of calamities and disasters."

ROTC was made optional in 2002 through Republic Act No. 9163 or the National Service Training Program (NSTP).

'Attuned to the times'

In a separate statement, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) also welcomed Sara Duterte's proposal, saying it is "attuned to the times."

"We welcome the proposal as this is attuned to the times while government is faced with adversities and challenges, aligned with our aspirations for the citizenry to contribute to nation building," said AFP spokesperson Colonel Ramon Zagala in a separate statement.

"Rendering mandatory military service will only help us to establish base for a strong armed forces, and therefore a strong nation," he added.

'Absurd, unfair'

Akabayan party-list, on the other hand, described the proposal as "absurd, unfair and irrelevant."

In a separate statement, the group said the proposal serves only to "whitewash" the alleged cowardice of President Rodrigo Duterte, Sara Duterte's father, to China in connection with the dispute in the West Philippine Sea.

“The Duterte administration has done precious little to assert our sovereignty and territorial integrity in the West Philippine Sea. And now after failing in its duty, the government's vice presidential bet wants future generations to make up for their treachery by imposing compulsory military service?” said Akbayan’s First Nominee Perci Cendaña.

Cendaña suggested modernizing the Philippine Navy and Coast Guard instead of making the military service mandatory.  —KBK, GMA News