Senator-elect Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa wanted to imitate what the other countries are doing to their citizens by pushing a mandatory military service to all Filipinos who reached their right age.
In an interview with UNTV, Dela Rosa said that instead of pushing to bring back the mandatory The Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), he wanted to implement a more challenging task to the Filipino youth by serving the military for two years like what South Korea and Israel are doing.
He said that he doesn’t want any exemption to the military service despite their social status.
According to him, mandatory military service would help the country to boost its territorial defense in case of foreign invasion.
“Like other countries na pagdating mo ng 18 years old, obligado ka na mag-serve sa military for two years. Walang pakialam ang gobyerno kung anak ka ng mayaman, o ng mahirap, kung sikat ka o artista ka, maganda din iyon,” he said.
“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.
Dela Rosa also suggested that the government should shoulder all the expenses of the Filipinos who would undergo the mandatory military service, different from the existing National Service Training Program (NSTP) where the parents are paying for their children to get it.
Several days ago, the lower house supported the revival of the mandatory ROTC for Senior High Students.
It also received mass support from the netizens who believed that ROTC could bring back the discipline and patriotism to the youth.