Senatorial candidate Greco Belgica speaks to the crowd during one of his campaign sorties. Contributed photo
MANILA, Philippines — Senatorial candidate Greco Belgica said the Philippines will have to start to invest on nuclear research just in case the war escalates, saying we don’t want to get caught in the middle of “someone else’s” war.
“Ire-revive ko ang pagpapatayo ng [I will revive the establishment of] nuclear power plant, research and build up our nuclear strength,” said the former Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) Chairman.
“The whole world is talking about nuclear warheads and they have it in Japan, China, Korea.”
Belgica said the country will have to be prepared and capable should there be military hostilities in the region similar to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.
“Our concern is for the government to strengthen our defense capabilities and assert its leadership in the geopolitical realm, to bring everyone to the diplomatic table and talk peace, but at the same time prepare for war,” he said.
“Hindi naman tayo pakikinggan nyan [They would probably not listen to us] if we cannot defend ourselves.”
To do that, legislators will have to earmark a huge chunk of budget to enhance the Philippines military capabilities, he said.
“We need to put more, more money on defense. Ang perang pumupunta sa defense halos pang sweldo na lang e [The budget that goes to our defense sector is just for the salary],” said Belgica.
“Kailangan natin ng pambili ng magagandang gamit, ground to air missiles, intelligence equipment at kailangan nating magpagawa ng sariling nuclear facility.”
“This for me is top priority. Wala tayong mapaguusapang economic progress pag may giyera.”
(We need funds to buy equipment, ground-to-air missiles, intelligence equipment, and we need to put up our own nuclear facility. We can’t talk about economic progress if there is war.)
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