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The Corps of Officers is the small but distinct group of students who supervise, manage and lead the corps
of cadets. They all pass through the same experiences: from COCC through the class system; through training cadets as well
as being trainees themselves by their upper classmen; and being “Isko” and “Iska” as well as “brods”
of the fraternity of UP ROTC officers, the UP Vanguard Fraternity. They all bear the same responsibilities: train cadets and
train for future service to the Country, in whatever form, be it military service or in a private endeavor or public service.
They all go through the same initiation for inclusion in the organization of the Chosen Few, the UP Vanguards – that
is, four years of blood, toil, sweat and tears. Sleepless nights, broken relationships, broke finances, all for the service
of the University and the Country, for the now and for the future.
This is the kind of person a member of the Corps of Officers is.
How do they form?
The fully complemented organization of the Corps of Officers in UP Manila has 32 cadet officers. Here is
a list of positions with the respective quantity required:
Corps Commander – 1
Corps Staff and Executive Officer – 6
Battalion Commanders –
2
Battalion Executive Officers – 2
Company Commanders – 5
Company Executive Officers – 4
Platoon
Leaders - 9
Barracks Commander/ HQ Commandant – 1
PT Master – 1
COCC Director – 1
Due primarily to the lack of committed and competent individuals, this ideal setup is never achieved. Frequently,
the cadet officers have to take dual responsibilities (except, of course, the Corps Commander). For example, the Corps Ex-O,
who commands the Corps in the absence of the CC, is frequently also the Corps Operations Officer (G3). The Corps G2, who supervises
the intelligence network, may also command the special operations team. The Corps Adjutant may also be the SSU Commander,
without provision for its executive officer.
Supermen - Not
Most cadets and misinformed individuals think that cadet officers are taking officership to play with power
or to escape pushups during the Sunday training day. They are badly mistaken.
(While some cadets DO enter COCC for such personal reasons, the training director of the COCC has the responsibility
to weed out those “malingerers.” This is one of the reasons COCC training is mentally as well as physically demanding
– to weed out personalities who do not have the correct character for leading UP cadets.)
With the high standard of performance for the cadet officers, a fourth class cadet officer in a meeting
may do no less than 100 pushups as disciplinary measures or ‘tradition exercises’ (pushups done when an upper
classman greets a lower classman like, “Good morning”) . They know how a cadet feels when they fall to the ground
on their gloved hands.
While people may think correctly that most cadet officers are physically toughened, thisis not the characteristics
that make a cadet officer a CO. It is, again, the character that characterizes (excuse the pun) a CO. What does this mean?
Aside from the call for responsibility, COs stay in being COs in the midst of numerous calls for quitting.
Physical weaknesses, social responsibilities, misunderstood organization (the ROTC). Can responsibility make a person stay?
No.
Though responsibility may have been and is trained inside a cadet officer, any other form of logic could
easily debunk that reasoning. A responsible person could quit because, logically: another person could do the job better,
or has other responsibilities, or does not want to stay for responsibility’s sake only.
Character. Besides being responsible, character calls for the right judgment in the myriad of activities,
ideas and emotions. That’s how a COC becomes a CO, and a CO becomes a Vanguard. In the absence of reason and motivation,
character persists. In the presence of challenge, character answers.
Out of this individual character, a patriot is molded. From school organization to national leaders, they
lead in their own way.
In the scenario of NSTP, being a cadet officer is even more challenging. You are not offered ROTC as a choice.
Departments enlist their students in their NSTP by blocks, without informing correctly of ROTC. If a student asks about it,
they are only given the challenges and bad issues of the program. One has to question the character of these people, but they
are the community the Corps of Officers serves.
Officership is not a personality development program – it is a character-correcting way of life. And
the Corps of Officers teaches a person in the way that is challenging, hardening, frustrating, and discouraging, but actually
very rewarding and prudent.
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