Aspiring vice president Sara Duterte-Carpio on Wednesday night, Jan. 19 hit her fellow vice presidential candidate Walden Bello after the latter accused her of teaching the people "to kill" through mandating those 18 years old to serve in the Philippine military.
Duterte-Carpio said "only the likes of Mr. Bello would think of mandatory military service for its citizens as arming them and telling them to kill" because for her, that actually "inspires patriotism in the youth."
"If only he wasn’t so quick to react, he would have realized that I also emphasized the need for the youth to be prepared for disasters and become proactive community partners in rescue operations and in aiding victims of calamities," the presidential daughter said in a statement, adding that an 18 year old is definitely no longer a child.
Duterte-Carpio's remark came after Bello reacted to her plan to ask the Congress to require Filipinos after turning 18 years old in the military service if elected in the second highest post in the country.
"Like father, like daughter. Duterte’s legacy was to arm people and tell them to kill. Now his daughter wants to do it to the youth as well," Bello said in a Twitter post. "Sara Duterte’s pledge to use the OVP to promote mandatory military service reveals her for the dictator-in-waiting she is, and tells us that she will be no different from Duterte Sr."
For Duterte-Carpio, "if only Mr. Bello did not stop at what he has been so stuck in over the past many years—dictatorship in the Philippines, something that we know is a lie in the present time—he would have a better understanding of what I truly stand for."
"The obsession over dictatorship in this country is as ancient as the belief that the youth have no actual important role in building a nation that is progressive and peaceful,"
The presidential daughter said she hopes that the Filipino youth will "not grow up to be a Walden Bello," who for her is "an ungrateful citizen who sleeps peacefully at the comfort of their homes, unable to say a prayer or a silent 'thank you' to the men and women who became martyrs while countering violent extremism, insurgency, and terrorism."