Senator Panfilo Lacson said, prior to the planned sale of some 26,000 assault rifles to the Philippine National Police (PNP), that the Philippines “does not stand to lose anything”.
“Since it’s a planned sale of assault rifles by the US to the Philippines, we do not stand to lose anything except one less gun store to choose from,” Lacson, former chief of the PNP, said in a statement on Tuesday.
He also calls out to the Department of National Defense to urgently reignite their self-reliance program.
According to a Reuters report, the planned sale of rifles was halted following opposition from US Senator Ben Cardin over concerns related to the human rights violations in the Philippines.
Lacson believes that this opposition is based on the lawmaker’s own opinion. He also mentioned that there is no proof yet that the killings were state-sanctioned.
Recently, the Senate justice and human rights committee concluded its probe on alleged extrajudicial killings.
Post a Comment