MANILA -- The Reserve Officers' Training Corps program will be updated to make it more "acceptable" to parents and students the military said, after President Rodrigo Duterte certified legislation for its revival as urgent.

If the ROTC is revived, instructors from the military will be screened to make sure that they have not faced criminal or administrative cases, said Brig. Gen. Edgard Arevalo, Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesman.

Civilian instructors will also teach students human rights, international law, and the constitution, Arevalo told DZMM.

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"Pinag-aralan po natin ang mga bagay na dapat mabago upang sa ganoon, maging mas katanggap-tanggap sa ating mga estudyante at mga magulang itong ROTC program," he said.

(We studied the things that should be changed so that the ROTC program would be more acceptable to our students and their parents.)

"Marami namang magiging pagbabago dito, hindi katulad ng ROTC program na nakikita ng karamihan sa atin na kasalukuyang tinututulan nila," he said.

(This will have many changes, unlike the ROTC program seen by most of us, which some oppose.)

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Military training for male college students on weekends was mandatory until 2002, when University of Sto. Tomas Mark Chua exposed alleged fund mismanagement in his school's ROTC corps.

Duterte said the ROTC would help prepare the youth defend the Philippines during wartime.