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POLITICAL PARTICIPATION AND VOTING RIGHTS

NATIONAL SERVICE IN THE PHILIPPINES

Other formal forms of participation include various types of government service. For instance, a citizen might seek political office as an elected official. Citizens may serve in the military (in some countries, such as Canada or the United States, military service is voluntary, in other countries, such as Norway or Israel, it is required). An alternative to military service is national service , which may include teaching or even service as an emergency responder. Citizens may also be required to serve on a jury, as is the case in many nations, including Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In the Philippines, male and female college students are required to perform national service through one of three programs. The Civic Welfare Training Service (CWTS) includes educational, environmental, and social activities that are designed to benefit communities. For instance, students might be trained as teachers or social workers. The Literacy Training Service (LTS) specifically focuses on teaching literacy or mathematical proficiency to younger children or youths that have dropped out of school. Participants in either of these programs have to commit to two semesters of training and service, for which they receive college credit. The third program is the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC), which trains students to become officers in the military. Students in ROTC have to commit to four semesters of service. Between 2002 and 2012, 8.61 million students went through the CWTS program, 538,700 through LTS, and 1.44 million through ROTC.

Informal Political Participation Informal political participation may be done on an individual level or as part of a group. For instance, a person might write a letter or an e-mail to a government official in order

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