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Conscription in the Philippines has been implemented at several points in the country's history. As of 2022 [update] , no mandatory conscription is in effect in the Philippines and military service is entirely voluntary as stated in the 1987 constitution. [1] [2] However, there have been calls for mandatory conscription by Vice President Sara Duterte, [3] along with several Senators pushing for a bill to introduce mandatory Reserve Officers' Training Corps enrollment.
Mandatory military service has been employed several times over the course of Philippine history.
During Spanish colonial rule, Filipinos were drafted for military service and deployed as auxiliary forces both in local and foreign campaigns of the Spanish Empire. [4] One author states that the Spanish friars supervised the conscription of parishioners into the colonial army. [5] The Spaniards evidently commended the Filipinos' military service, citing them as excellent soldiers in campaigns such as the taking of Ternate. [4] During the first phase of the Philippine Revolution (1896-1897), more than 17,000 native Filipinos were in the Spanish order of battle, 60% of which were made up of members of the Guardia Civil . [6]
Conscription was introduced prior to World War II during the Philippine Commonwealth in 1935 with a term of enlistment of 5 and a half months. [7] President Manuel L. Quezon issued Executive Order No. 207 in 1939 in order to implement the National Defense Act of 1935, otherwise known as Commonwealth Act No. 1, [8] the embodiment of the national defense plan formulated by General Douglas MacArthur for the Philippine Commonwealth. This executive order made ROTC obligatory at all colleges and universities with a total enrollment of 100 students and greater. This measure was made in order to help fill out the reserve force requirement of 400,000 men by 1946 and especially for junior reserve officers. [9] However, after a trip to Tokyo in 1939, Quezon concluded that Japan was much too powerful and that the Filipinos could not effectively defend their homeland. He therefore curtailed MacArthur's military preparedness program by halting conscription and reducing by half the number of reserves in training. [10]
Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law on 21 September 1972. He issued at least two Presidential Decrees governing the terms of conscription of trainees into selective emergency military service, one for a period of 12 months [11] in 1973 and another for a period of 18 months in 1974. [12]
Conscription remains a possibility as Section 4, Article II of the Constitution of the Philippines states: [13]
"The Government may call upon the people to defend the State and, in the fulfillment thereof, all citizens may be required, under conditions provided by law, to render personal, military or civil service."
— Section 4, Article II, Constitution of the Philippines
In addition, the National Service Training Program, instituted by virtue of Republic Act 9163, is a training program for national service, wherein both male and female college students of any baccalaureate degree course or technical vocational course in public or private educational institutions are obliged to undergo one of three program components for an academic period of two semesters. [14]
In January 2022, before her election as Vice President, Sara Duterte called for mandatory conscription for all Filipinos above 18 years of age. [3] After her election, the then-Vice President-elect stated that she wanted mandatory ROTC training under priority legislation. [15] In July, Senators Francis Tolentino and Robin Padilla announced support for a bill by Senator Ronald Dela Rosa that would introduce a mandatory ROTC for Filipino students in grades 11 and 12, with a voluntary advanced ROTC program available for the first two years of higher education. [16] Dela Rosa stated that refiling the mandatory ROTC bill is the second highest of his "top 10 priority bills" to submit on the first session of the 19th Congress, [17] which opened on 25 July.
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Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job (volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription).
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Rodrigo Roa Duterte, also known as Digong, Rody, and by the initials DU30 and PRRD, is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 16th president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. He is the chairperson of Partido Demokratiko Pilipino, the ruling political party in the Philippines during his presidency. Duterte is the first president of the Philippines to be from Mindanao, and is the oldest person to assume office, beginning his term at age 71.
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The Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (CSAFP) is the highest-ranking military officer and the head of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), including all service branches under its command. The position is usually held by a four-star rank of General or Admiral. Its direct equivalent in the US Armed Forces is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Unlike its US counterpart, which is merely supervisory, the Chief of Staff has complete operational control within the military hierarchy and is responsible for the overall operations of the AFP.
The National Service Training Program (NSTP) is a civic education and defense preparedness program students instituted by the Government of the Philippines on July 23, 2001, by virtue of Republic Act 9163, otherwise known as the "National Service Training Program (NSTP) Act of 2001."
Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) in the Philippines is one of three components of the National Service Training Program, the civic education and defense preparedness program for Filipino college students. ROTC aims to provide military education and training for students to mobilize them for national defense preparedness. Its specific objectives include preparation of college students for service in the Armed Forces of the Philippines in the event of an emergency and their training to become reservists and potential commissioned officers of the AFP.
Sara Zimmerman Duterte-Carpio, commonly known as Inday Sara, is a Filipino lawyer and politician who is the 15th and current vice president of the Philippines. She is the third female vice president, the third vice president to come from Mindanao, and the youngest vice president in Philippine history. Duterte is also the secretary of education, holding the post in a concurrent capacity. A daughter of 16th president Rodrigo Duterte, she previously served as the mayor of Davao City from 2016 to 2022, and from 2010 to 2013. She was also Davao City's vice mayor from 2007 to 2010.
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17-23 years of age (officers 20-24) for voluntary military service; no conscription; applicants must be single male or female Philippine citizens with either 72 college credit hours (enlisted) or a baccalaureate degree (officers) (2013)
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