Breaking the Stereotypes in the PUP-ROTC

           

           Being part of the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) Class Masarig 2008 is another one of a kind experience for me in PUP.

 

           I don’t know the reason what made me chose ROTC as my NSTP for one year one enrollment day in May 2008, when I was an incoming freshman Journalism student. After submitting all my documents to the ARO officer, she asked me,


“Ano ang kukunin mong NSTP, ROTC o CWTS?”
I answered, “ROTC po.”
“Sigurado ka ba?”
“Opo.”

 

           She was really shocked with my answer and so I am. After that said conversation, I heard some activists trying to convince other freshmen students not to enroll in ROTC for these reasons: abusive officers, expensive uniform, and exposed under the sunlight for five hours but I didn’t believe them. Upon getting my registration card that day, I registered myself at their booth outside the NALRC. I told myself to give this a try.

 

           Few weeks before the start of my ROTC class, I went to the NSTP office and asked them if it’s still possible to change my NSTP to CWTS and how. They told me to get an ACE form from the ROTC headquarters. Upon arriving to the headquarters, I inquired to the officers if I could transfer to CWTS but informed me I can’t because the CWTS Coordinator couldn’t accept transferees anymore. He explained to me and others who also wanted to transfer to CWTS how they treated and taught their students. He even dared us to attend the first few classes and if they mistreated us, then shift to CWTS. That made me finally decides to attend my ROTC classes every Sunday no matter what.

 

           Anyway, I went to my first ROTC class and to my surprise the officers were not that strict at all. I expected very tremendous and rigid trainings/lectures from them but these officers, led by PUP-ROTC Commandant Col. Buenaventura Pascual, let us just enjoy our sessions and activities for one year. In short, it was a fruitful yet enjoyable ROTC experience for us. What made it so?

 

           First, instead of teaching us several drills and skills usually done in a ROTC class, our instructors fed us with useful lectures like military discipline, military courtesy, and military justice that we could apply in our everyday lives. Of course, they taught us how to handle a gun, assemble and disassemble them; map reading, and the like. Aside from the PowerPoint presentation being showed to us by some instructors every meeting, they gave us hand outs of the lessons to be tackled for that day. The commandant wanted us to go home early so our officer-mentors would cut the discussion short and dismiss us at the earliest time possible.

 


           Second, the PUP-ROTC community has a lot of get-together activities in store for us like the Acquaintance Party and ROTC Graduation Ball. These parties gave us a chance to meet and mingle more with our trainer and fellow students. They were doing their best to make these social gatherings a memorable one.

 

           Third, the officers were pampering us a lot that they didn’t require us to buy a uniform and stay under the sunlight for more than an hour. They just allow us to make the most of our stay in ROTC but at the same time instilling in our minds the most important attitude a ROTC student must possess – discipline.

 

           And lastly, the ROTC-PUP was able to prove that our unit is the best unit despite the basic cadets not having their Type “A” uniforms and a lenient treatment for us. Our unit was the overall champion in last year’s RAATI held at the AFP Headquarters in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig where we outshined all the colleges and universities in the National Capital Region. Together with other PUPians, I can’t help but scream.

 

           When I’m sharing all of these to some of my classmates especially to my friends (most of my classmates took CWTS), they were really amazed and one of them told me, “Sana, nag-ROTC na lang ako.” Unlike me, my friends found their CWTS boring. They were telling me some stories about their CWTS like their adviser required them to buy a book but rarely used it. They were also obliged to participate in a Bible study twice a week or a medical and dental mission in their barangay. One of my classmates revealed to me they learned nothing from it. She added they were supposedly to do community services inside and outside their university but they ended up paying contributions every now and then.

 

           After my ROTC days, I can proudly say that all my sacrifices, including waking up early in the morning to come to our Sunday classes and hearing mass at night, are worth it and really paid off. Buti na lang, nag-ROTC ako. Now I know why I was in our ROTC unit – to witness first hand how the officers handle their students and break the stereotypes in our organization.

 

           To the PUP-ROTC community, thank you for marking a big part in my life, for giving me another reason to live life to the fullest, and making my ROTC days a productive one. May God continue to bless this unit and support all your endeavors for the betterment of the PUP-ROTC unit.

 

           Mabuhay and PUP-ROTC unit!