Imagine this: boys and girls in combat fatigues goose-stepping down the avenues of major cities, brandishing firearms to the drums of a marching band. Innocent enough, isn’t it? They’re just kids benefiting from a little discipline, what’s the worst that can happen?

Now imagine this: an 18-year-old boy beaten to a pulp by his seniors, hazed in the name of discipline. This is not simply a product of one’s imagination. Just ask Darwin Dormitorio, Manuel Salas, and Monico de Guzman. These boys entered military life voluntarily and yet their lives were taken by their upperclassmen, a stark contrast to the expectation they might die in battles against rebels and terrorists.

It is evident that the military perpetuates a cycle of violence, so why do our leaders who make promises of empowering the youth wish to make military service mandatory? 

This is their response to an evident education crisis. This is their platform for a nation with a collapsing healthcare system due to the lack of medical professionals. When the Philippines is ranked lowest in reading comprehension in the SEA region, their solution is to thrust rifles into the hands of students when they should be sat down and given remedial lessons. Healthcare professionals repeatedly announce on television that hospitals are at full capacity, yet the only capacity the government wants to improve is military manpower. They claim we must defend ourselves against a giant looming over our land, but why must the common man die when the big man refuses to assert our sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea? They use South Korea and Israel to justify the need for conscription, but we do not share any borders with hostile nations, nor are we under threat of potential invasions. Mandatory military service instills patriotism in citizens as seen in Ukraine, they say, but do they doubt the people’s determination to bleed for the Philippines when the time comes?

Several issues arise from mandatory military service, which they wilfully ignore, to push their agenda of suppressing freethinking among the youth. For one, the issue of physical hazing has been around since the military has been established, and while safeguards and precautions have been put, there are still those who continue the practice. Second, the military is not yet done modernizing its equipment with an already very large budget, which will cause a logistical and financial nightmare when thousands of 18-year-olds are to be trained every year. Trainees cannot be expected to perform at their best when they are issued subpar equipment, and there would indeed be inequality as some units would most likely receive the upgraded equipment first. Last but not the least, sexual abuse has been rife in the military. In South Korea alone, there have been multiple reports of sexual assault in the military that lead to suicides among both male and female soldiers. In the Philippines, this will most likely happen as well due to a culture of victim-blaming and power-tripping by superiors, as evidenced by an incident at Benguet State University.

Their militarization of the youth is a clear act of fascism. One can recall that the youth wing of the Nazi Party was sent to the frontlines when Berlin was about to fall to the Soviets, and this is what they are going to do to mere boys and girls who are barely on the cusp of adulthood. The fascists will merely use these conscripts as cannon fodder and send these kids to their premature deaths. Instilling in them military fanaticism will lead to them not questioning their superiors, thus maintaining the military’s hold on the citizenry while clinging on to power as long as they can.

Resist tyranny. Say no to mandatory military service. Resist the fascists. – Rappler.com

Matthew Tan is an incoming BS Accountancy sophomore from the University of San Agustin. Nothing relaxes him more than a cup of coffee and a novel on a cold rainy day.