00:00A number of senators supports the proposed return of the mandatory ROTC program
00:06based on Senate President Francis Escudero's latest information.
00:10However, the Senate leader admitted getting the necessary funding will be a challenge.
00:16Based on his dialogue with Defense Chief Gilberto Teodoro Jr.,
00:20implementing the program would require more than the 8 billion pesos yearly,
00:25amounting to more or less 27 billion pesos in three years.
00:31It will be tough, especially given the other expenditures government needs to allocate funds for
00:37in the coming year, given even the elections.
00:40But to give you an idea of what Congress will be weighing in deciding certain matters,
00:4627 billion or 8 billion a year can actually fund a lot of things in the Department of Health,
00:52with the Department of Education, with the SUCs, with the PANDAWID program.
00:58And if you look at it too, next year we will be putting a huge bill, which is more or less 50 billion pesos.
