SENATORS Sherwin Gatchalian and Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa slammed groups that called for the scrapping of bills that seek to revive mandatory Reserved Officers Training Corps in college.

The calls mounted following the hazing death of Adamson University student John Matthew Salilig.

“What is the connection? That is a desperate move exploiting the death of a non-ROTC student to stop ROTC. Ang layo naman ng connection nun, di ba? Eh namatay siya dahil sa fraternity hazing, hindi naman siya namatay sa ROTC training. Bakit gamitin nila ‘yan na rason para hindi ituloy ang ROTC bill? That is a very, very desperate, pathetic move,” Dela Rosa said.

The senator, who led Senate hearings on the ROTC bills, said that he will sponsor a committee report in the plenary next week.

Meanwhile, Gatchalian said that Salilig’s death was perpetuated by individuals who have absolutely no respect for the rule of law.

He added that ROTC aims to inculcate discipline and good citizenship among the youth.

“It is precisely incidents like these that ROTC intends to eliminate by molding our youth to respect our country and one another. The law is airtight and equipped with safeguards that will prevent abuses from happening,” Gatchalian said.