Senator Ronald Dela Rosa called on the Senate to reinstate the P10 billion cut made by the House of Representatives to the P50-billion budget for the Revised Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Program.
During Senate plenary discussions on the proposed P6.352-trillion national budget bill, Dela Rosa said the budget reduction to the program contradicts the statements of politicians who support AFP personnel whenever they were injured while defending the nation’s territories, especially in the West Philippine Sea.
“Being a former member of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, a former member of the Philippine National Police, and now a senator of the Republic, I cannot help but point out a glaring contradiction in what I see. Every time something bad happened during our resupply missions to the Ayungin Shoal .. our immediate reaction is like this: ‘We condemn in the highest terms this incident, and we have to see to it that we modernize our Philippine Navy,” Dela Rosa said.
The former Philippine National Police chief stressed that the country’s first line of defense should not always resort to avoiding confrontation or exercising escape and evasion whenever they are faced by those who intend to harm them.
He then appealed to restore the budget cut introduced by the House of Representatives to boost the morale of the country’s troops.
“I am talking about the morale of our people in the field,” he said.
Senate Finance Committee Chairperson Grace Poe committed to look into Dela Rosa’s appeal and said she is willing to consider the proposal.
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