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President Rodrigo Duterte said that he might issue an executive order imposing the mandatory taking of Reserve Officers' Training Corps program by the students if Congress fails to pass a law.

In a speech in Cavite Thursday night, Duterte said there is a need to instill patriotism and love for the country among the youth and one way of doing this is to bring back ROTC.

"We need to revive the ROTC. It has to be mandatory," he said.

In 2002, when the National Service Training Program Law was signed under former President and now House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, ROTC has become optional among the college students. The mandatory taking of ROTC was removed following the death of a student from the University of Santo Tomas who made an expose on the alleged anomalies in his unit in 2001.

"That simple hazing has resulted in an aberration of our country. There's no more deep bench that could be pulled because the next Filipino has no knowledge anymore, they lack patriotism. What they want is just to travel, drink, smoke. It's because (mandatory) ROTC was removed," Duterte said.

He urged Congress to immediately pass a law requiring mandatory ROTC for Grades 11 and 12 "so we can instill patriotism, love of country among our youth."

Duterte also asked the lawmakers to expedite the passage of the Reservist Employment Rights Act.

"If it's feasible, I might be forced to issue an executive order if they do not act on it (mandatory ROTC bill). I said that this is a constitutional requirement that you must prepare to defend your country," he said. Celerina Monte/DMS