Col. Jerry Borja, commander of the 7th Regional Community Defense Group (7RCDG), lauded Vice Governor Dionisio Balite for his support for the Reserve Officer Training Corps program amid calls for colleges and universities to adopt ROTC as a major service training program for their students.

Borja, as he expressed appreciation last week for Balite’s “unrelenting support to the ROTC program of the government,” noted that the Bohol vice governor’s Bohol Institute of Technology (BIT) campuses all have ROTC units.

BIT has four campuses in Bohol, including its main campus in Tagbilaran City, and one in Siquijor province.

“Before RAATI [regional annual administrative and tactical inspection], we have a corps commander’s briefing. After attending in one briefing, Balite would hurriedly proceed to another briefing in another campus. He made sure he attended them all,” Borja said.

In other colleges and universities, the presidents themselves have also offered their support to the ROTC program.

College instructors, Borja said, have seen the “big difference of their students before when ROTC was not yet being offered and now that ROTC becomes a major program” of their National Service Training Program (NSTP).

Under Republic Act 9163 signed into law in 2001, NSTP aims to enhance “civic consciousness and defense preparedness in the youth, by developing their ethics of service and patriotism while undergoing training” in either one of the three components: ROTC, Civic Welfare Training Service, and Literacy Training Service.

“Na-realize nila ang importance sa basic discipline nga na-instill sa ilang estudyante nga nag-ROTC (They realized the importance of basic discipline now being instilled to their students who took up ROTC),” he said. “Teachers can see the difference.” (with reports from PNA)