SENATE President Juan Miguel ‘Migz’ Zubiri is hopeful that the men and women of the Philippine Military Academy are one with the Senate in their stand to protect the Constitution and our sovereignty.

Zubiri made the statement at the Alumni Homecoming of the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio City on Saturday (17 Feb 2024).

The Alumni Homecoming marked the 50th Anniversary of Marangal Class 74, of which Zubiri is an honorary member.

Notable members of the Marangal Class are Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, RAdm. Rogelio Calunsag, LtGen. Horacio Tolentino, and Gen. Avelino Razon.

Zubiri commended the PMA alumni for their service to the nation, and assured them of the Senate’s commitment to strengthening the nation’s defense and security programs.

In his speech before 1,696 PMAyers, Zubiri also detailed the Senate’s push to include over P10 billion in the 2024 budget of the Department of National Defense and the Philippine Coast Guard, for the procurement of air and maritime assets, arms, and defense systems.

Half a billion has also been directed into the budget of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, for the development and enhancement of marine stations.

Alongside this budgetary support, the Senate President also gave a rundown of the legislative gains that the Senate has pursued for the country’s defense and security, among them the Self-Reliant Defense Posture Act and the reorganization of the Philippine National Police.

He assured the PMA alumni that the Military and Uniformed Personnel Fund Act will not renege on the contract that the Republic entered into when brave Filipinos like them enlisted in the defense of the motherland – – that they will enjoy their pension in full without having to pay for it.

Instead, he stressed other sources of funding, such as leasing military assets.

Zubiri told the PMA alumni that the Senate is always one with them in the work to protect the people, the nation, and sovereignty.

“We are one with you in securing our country against all threats to our democracy — whether from external actors who use their military might to try to cow us into giving up our borders, or from insidious actors who attempt to undermine our hard-won freedoms from within our own country, or worse, even within our own government,” Zubiri said.

Zubiri also enjoined the alumni to work with the Senate in upholding the sacred democratic freedoms that our forebears fought and died for.

“Let us stand firm against attacks on the very ideologies that serve as the foundation to our nationhood,” he added.