‘Bato’ urges Senate to join crusade to save youth

Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa on Monday urged his colleagues in the Senate to join him in his quest to save the youth from leftist groups as he presented to the plenary the committee report on the “missing” students.

In his sponsorship speech, the former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief told members of the Senate to think of their own children, relatives and even ordinary children who are all “potential victims of recruitment by these revolutionary organizations and their leaders.”

The senator added that the youth should be saved “from the snares of the duplicitous and deceptive leftist groups who use our youth for violent ends.”

“Yes, we share our children to the world for them to explore what lies beyond the corners of our homes and schools. But we always provide protective shields for them so that they will not to be taken advantage of, and have their own freedom snatched away from them,” said Dela Rosa.

The Committee Report No. 10 by the Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, chaired by Dela Rosa and National Defense and Security, Peace, Unification and Reconciliation, chaired by Senator Panfilo Lacson, was released following an inquiry into the missing minors who were allegedly enticed by leftist organizations into joining the New People’s Army, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines.