Defense Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. assures Senator Ronald Dela Rosa that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Department of National Defense (DND) will be ready to start the Reserve Officers Training Course (ROTC) program once the law making it mandatory is passed.

"The DND fully supports and greatly appreciates the enthusiasm of our legislators led by Sen. Ronald Dela Rosa in pushing for the law and we commit to take an active part in the legislative process through our full cooperation and inputs, whenever and wherever they are needed," said Galvez.

"We assure Senator Dela Rosa and our distinguished lawmakers that we will be ready to start the program when the law is passed and it will be diligently implemented in coordination with our partner agencies and institutions including the private sector organizations in order to ensure its success," Galvez reiterated," he added.

Galvez said the DND and the AFP in coordination with Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and supporting agencies have a proposed concept on how the ROTC program will be run.

"We can implement this using a 'phased approach' wherein we will have pilot and simulation runs in selected universities, while preparing our personnel, logistical and budgetary requirements for its full implementation," he said.

Based on the proposal the implementation will be done in phases. The first phase is preparation which includes curriculum development, selection and training of implementers, personnel, logistics and budget planning, and Selection of pilot volunteer schools based on results of evaluation of their facilities and capacities.

The second phase is pilot programs, simulation in volunteer schools, next is the expansion to different regions followed by progressive implementation, the evaluation and further fine-tuning and lastly the full implementation in all schools.

According to the DND "the projected timeline from enactment of the law to initial implementation is 2-3 years, while full implementation can be done in 5 years."

The measure stressed that "the DND and AFP also intend to harness the expertise of the Regional Community Defense Groups (RCDGs) of the Philippine Army, Air Reserve Centers (ARCENs) of the Philippine Air Force, and Naval Reserve Centers (NRCENs) of the Philippine Navy all over the country in managing the ROTC program." Robina Asido/DMS