Senator Ronald Dela Rosa has urged his colleagues to restore the P10 billion budget cut of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) modernization program in 2025.
Dela Rosa said the House of Representatives slashed the AFP modernization budget from P50 billion to P40 billion.
Dela Rosa criticized the lawmakers for reducing the budget even though they are critical of China’s maritime aggression 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 na nakikita ko,” Dela Rosa said on Wednesday (Nov. 13).
“Kasi every time may mangyaring hindi maganda 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 have to modernize our Philippine Navy,’” he added.
He appealed to his colleagues to restore the budget cut introduced by the House of Representatives to boost the morale of the country’s troops.