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| Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano and senator-elect Bato Dela Rosa / compiled photo from World Times News and Facebook |
Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano may have lost in the recent senatorial
elections but he can’t be stopped from criticizing the administration.
Alejano on a Facebook post on Saturday calls out Senator-elect
Bato Dela Rosa’s latest statement about making military service mandatory for
Filipino youth, instead of just registering them for the Reserve Officers'
Training Corps (ROTC).
“It is useless when your leaders compromise to foreign
powers. Yan ang unahin niyo… the youth and in fact all Filipino people will
follow,” Alejano said.
Meanwhile, for the former police chief, rendering mandatory military
training would improve the country's territorial defense.
"Like other countries na pagdating mo ng 18 years old,
obligado ka na mag-serve sa military for 2 years. Walang pakialam ang gobyerno
kung anak ka ng mayaman o ng mahirap, kung sikat ka o artista ka. Maganda rin
iyon,"Dela Rosa said in an interview on UNTV on Wednesday.
"Itong mga kabataan na sige dakdak nang dakdak. Sila
lang daw ang makabayan, ang Duterte administration daw ay Team China. Ako ayaw
ko na agawin ng China ang ating bansa," dela Rosa said.
"Kaya gusto ko malakas ang ating territorial defense
when it comes to foreign aggression, foreign invasion so kailangang i-prepare
natin ang ating kabataan na mayroon tayong enough reserves, human resource
reserves." He added
Last week, the House of Representatives passed on third and
final reading the bill reviving mandatory ROTC for senior high school students in the
country.
The bill also states that exemption from undergoing the
mandatory ROTC course is for students who are physically and psychologically
unfit, athletic scholars who were chosen to represent the school in sports competitions,
and those with other valid reasons as approved by the Department of National
Defense.
Meanwhile, Kabataan party-list Rep. Sarah Elago also opposes
the move of mandatory ROTC training for the youth.
In a Facebook post, Elago said: House passes on third
and final reading today the institutionalization of mandatory ROTC in Grades
11-12, railroaded without Senior High School/K-12 implementation review, and
even without status report/resolution on the program's widespread cases of
harassment, hazing & corruption.
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