President Duterte said yesterday that he wants cadets to perform silent drills daily to show their love for the country as he appealed to the youth anew to not give in to the communist ideology.
Duterte made the statement as he graced the closing ceremony of the National Reserve Officers Training Corps Summit and the first Presidential Silent Drill Competition at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila.
The Chief Executive said he got the idea of daily silent drills when he went to China where people would congregate every afternoon to watch different units perform drills as their flags were lowered every sundown.
“I want it done every day, may magtingin man o wala, do it for the country. I want you to go into a sort of an activity to honor Dr. Jose Rizal at ang ating bayan,” he said. “Do it and I order it every day. It will be spearheaded by the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” he added.
The President said that he will give “coffee money” as an incentive to those who will conduct the daily drills. “And I pay well, it is not because binabayaran ko kayo, but to give you an incentive to perform well before the public,” Duterte said.
“Kung may manood, maganda. ‘Pag wala you do it, just do it because I might just be there in the corner to watch you.”
Duterte urged the youth to not give in to the communist ideology, calling them terrorists who were out to destroy the Filipinos’ way of life.
“‘Wag kayong magpadala diyan sa mga ideolohiya na barat. Dumaan na kami diyan. I was one of those people pero later on, I realized that nothing else would be good except to have law and order and one government,” he said.
“They promise anything and everything, including sumasali sa gobyerno, and then submitting papers towards a coalition government. Hindi mangyari ‘yan sa buhay ng ating bayan. Hindi talaga ako papayag kailanman,” he added, referring to the Communist Party of the Philippines who sought a coalition government as they tried to talk peace with the government. The President cited this as one of the reasons for terminating the formal peace negotiations in November 2017. (Argyll Geducos)
