Band-aid Solution To Ailing Nationalism

When they think that the solution to stop the growing disinterest of the youth in social issues, national identity, and patriotism is to have them participate in partial military service and civic training, then something is wrong with their perspective.

A consensus bill was created on December 6 to repeal the National Service Training Program (NSTP) in favor of a mandatory National Citizen’s Training Service Program (NCSTP). Though they almost sound the same, the new program is way different.

The House Committee on Basic Education and Culture and on Higher and Technical Education approved a motion to consolidate House Bill 6486, which seeks mandatory NCSTP, with other bills seeking mandatory Reserved Officers Training Corps (ROTC).

According to the consolidated bill, the new NCSTP is a two-year mandatory training program of tertiary students, which includes undergraduate students and those who are taking post-secondary courses. Its curriculum focuses on disaster risk reduction and management and civic duty-related concerns.

Kabataan Partylist strongly opposed House Bill 6486 as they said it was a mandatory ROTC in disguise as a civic program because it has provisions that teach students how to handle weapons. But, according to its proponents, teaching students how to handle weapon cannot be considered as military training itself.

As early as 2018, there was an active interest from the administration to make ROTC mandatory when former President Rodrigo Duterte urged Congress to require military training for all 18- year-olds in the country as it would “instill patriotism” and “love of country among the youth,” but the bill remained pending in the House of Representatives until the recent revisions.

Those same principles were reflected in the recent support of the Marcos administration - mandatory ROTC is for discipline, patriotism, disaster preparedness, and military defense awareness.

But here’s the problem: nationalism is not something that is forced or indoctrinated but something that is observed, felt, and experienced. It is not effective when it is coerced because it becomes artificial and fragile to the point of easily crumbling down when challenged.

The reason why North Korea, despite its militaristic leadership and coercive indoctrination of patriotic sentiments, still has thousands of defectors is that their national identity is artificial, and they do not genuinely connect to it because it is taught the hard way - they were abused, they don’t have free will, and they don’t have a choice but to accept the teachings or else they will be hurt and punished.

In the country, we teach nationalism with mandatory courses like Araling Panlipunan in elementary and high school and National Service Training Program (NSTP) in college. These soft forms of instilling nationalism received criticisms over their perceived ineffectiveness on the younger generation, but it’s not the sole or even the major reason why nationalism is ailing.

When you see government-sponsored killings every day and the incarceration of youths who conduct protests in the streets for the marginalized, no kid can rationally think that my country is myself and that I can identify with it.

Nationalism is weak because the persons we entrust of serving the people are the same persons who ordered to shoot our fathers just because they were drug addicts. The youth can no longer guarantee their safe future in a country of impunity, violence, and political dynasties.

To be taught the concept of patriotism by the same persons who they have heard in the news killed their family members or harassed their friends is a fearsome comedy.

Even if the current bill has provided a lot of safeguards for violence as it bans hazing and all forms of abuse, the memory of the death of University of Santo Tomas student Mark Welson Chua in 2002 because he exposed the corruption of the organization to their school paper, including all the others who died of hazing, will forever haunt us. Why haven’t we learned?

Sure, the NCSTP is not solely for nationalism but for our military preparedness. But we must prioritize quality over quantity because the number of military reservists does not translate to a stronger military. There are a lot of factors to be considered such as our technological advancement in terms of machinery, intelligence, strategy, and tactics. It’s better to invest in those aspects and, besides, we already have existing military training such as Citizenship Advancement Training in high school and NSTP in college that is mandatory.

Furthermore, despite tensions with China, our country does not have an imminent threat. It is less likely for China to declare war over a nation in the Pacific when it is busy expanding its global influence as an economic superpower with the inception of its hegemony. In addition, the insurgent groups in our country are not that substantially huge to prepare all our adult citizens as reservists.

Let’s be strategic. Investing in something that does not guarantee tangible and significant results is a waste of time and resources. We can do a lot better as the principles of the bill presented can easily be solved by better options and, on top of that, our education is also ailing. The education system in our country was in crisis even before the pandemic.

Our youth is not the redeemer of our dying nationalism. ROTC is just a band-aid solution to youths’ disinterest in patriotism. It’s a mere smokescreen to hide the failure of the state to foster the love of the country in its citizens. Putting the burden on them to revive the patriotic sentiment in our country is for the comfort of those who abuse it.

The younger generation, for the longest time, has always been the victim of the perpetrators, and to give them the accountability to save our national identity by the individuals who are killing it is a mockery of their future.

𝗖𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝘆 𝗚𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗱 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮