The Philippine National Police will push through the deal to buy 26, 000 rifles from the United States.
The deal between the Philippine National Police and the US State Department to purchase 26,000 assault rifles from the US will push through.
This was confirmed by Philippine National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa on Monday, after reports that the US State Department has cancelled the deal after Senator Ben Cardin expressed concerns on human rights violations in the war on drugs.
At a press briefing in Camp Crame, Dela Rosa said that President Rodrigo Duterte has given go signal to continue with the procurement of the rifles.
The guns will be purchased from gun-maker Sig Sauer.
The decision of the chief executive came after he was briefed by the PNP chief about the matter during his recent visit to Malaysia, where he met with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.
“Actually I talked to him personally during our trip to Malaysia tungkol diyan (about that). We reported to him that the processing of documents is going on smoothly according to Sig Sauer, wala silang nakitang harang doon, hindi po naharang (they have seen no attempt to block the sale),” Dela Rosa said.
During the recent speeches of the president, Duterte ordered that the deal will be cancelled following reports of the State Department’s action.
However, Dela Rosa said that he informed the president that the Sig Sauer wrote to the PNP that their application with the US State Department was being processed normally.
“When I explained that to him (Duterte), sabi niya (he said), ‘OK, you continue). Ipagpatuloy n’yo yan kasi wala naman palang hinarang (You continue because there is no obstacle)’,” he said.
On the other hand, should the State Department block the sale, dela Rosa is sure that the President will again tell him to stop it.
According to the PNP chief, the national government will pay for the rifles and they are not free.
“Binabayaran namin ito, hindi naman namin ito hinihingi (We are paying for this, we did not ask for this) … so we should get fair and equal treatment dahil (because) this is business,” he said. “Hindi naman ito grant, hindi naman ito aid na kailangan naming hingin (This is not a grant, this is not aid that we have to ask for).”