Mandatory Military Service in the Philippines?

Davao Mayor Sara Duterte, who currently leads vice presidential polls in the Philippines, found herself in a spat with one challenger over her proposal to make military service mandatory for all Filipinos once they turn 18.

At a January 19 event with her running mate, presidential candidate Bongbong Marcos Jr., Duterte said that once Filipinos are of age, “you’ll be given a subsidy, you’ll be asked to serve our country [via the Armed Forces of the Philippines].”

Such a program would fulfill an aspiration of her father, outgoing Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who attempted early in his presidency to make participation in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) mandatory for all college students.

The plan fizzled out, but the elder Duterte reiterated his desire for mandatory ROTC participation in 2019, saying he was inspired by watching Chinese soldiers perform drills before their flag is lowered every afternoon.

Sara Duterte has said her plan will “inspire patriotism,” but her political opponents see things differently. Fellow vice presidential aspirant Walden Bello sharply opposed her proposal, calling it a “mask off” moment for a “dictator-in-waiting.”

Duterte responded by calling Bello an “ungrateful citizen” who does not appreciate the sacrifices made by military personnel.

Bello struck back, saying her remarks “should greatly alarm all of us, especially our young people” and saying the Philippines needs more jobs, not marches to honor national heroes.

“Does she really think that our youth would be so stupid as to accept her panicky explanation that the purpose of mandatory military training is not to learn how to kill but to engage in disaster relief, physical education, or character building?” he asked.

“How can Sara be running for the second-highest office in the land when she does not appear to realize that what the Philippines badly needs are more engineers, educators, scientists, medical personnel, artists, farmers, and workers to develop our country, not more soldiers?”

The Philippine military plays a large role in domestic peacekeeping, including ongoing missions to combat Islamic militants and communist rebels in the southern island of Mindanao. But its operations often coincide with allegations of severe human rights violations.

Military operations allegedly targeting communists have wound up taking the lives of dozens of peaceful political activists in Mindanao, where Indigenous activists claim corporate interests have illegally seized their ancestral lands, and Negros, where land rights campaigners are engaged in years-long disputes with developers and sugar plantation owners.

Rodrigo Duterte made global headlines in April 2020 when he gave police and military a “shoot to kill” order toward anyone protesting the government’s response to the coronavirus, after a group of urban poor activists claimed the government had failed to deliver promised food aid. He has also ordered the military to kill activists whom he alleges are actually communist rebels, and once told soldiers to shoot female rebels “in the vagina.”

This makes the military’s role in Philippine society controversial, to say the least, among the significant minority of Filipinos – especially young people – who see the current Duterte administration as an affront to the country’s democratic principles.

Still, Sara Duterte’s policy could help her at the polls. Her father found success in promoting military service and devotion to Philippine authorities as symbols of patriotism, then lambasting anyone who opposed his policies as traitorous communist sympathizers. He launched a controversial task force to root out communist sympathizers at the local level, which eventually took aim at Filipino celebrities who publicly supported progressive activists and causes. The initiative was ridiculed among some, but lauded by his base.

If Sara Duterte draws in her father’s rabid supporters, she’s likely to prove the polls right and become the country’s next vice president, perhaps alongside President Bongbong Marcos, the son of the most notorious dictator in the country’s history.