Duterte: Jordan might donate another attack helicopter to PHL

President Rodrigo Duterte said Jordan might donate another attack helicopter to the Philippines even as he refused to use such air assets to crush the communist rebels.

Speaking at a campaign rally in Bukidnon on Saturday, Duterte recalled his trip to Jordan to meet with King Abdullah II last September, a first for a Philippine head of state.

The donation of the Cobra helicopters equipped with aircraft ordnance was discussed during Duterte’s bilateral meeting with Abdullah.

“They showed me the helicopter that they donated. It was shown in an exhibit there. They gave us two. I’m friends with the king of Jordan. He said he might give us a third,” Duterte said in his native Cebuano.

Malacañang earlier said Philippine Air Force pilots would have to undergo a nine-month training before they could bring the choppers and other weapons to the country in July.

Duterte, however, said he does not want to use the choppers for anti-communist insurgency operations.

“I don’t want to use those helicopters against the NPAs [New People’s Army] because we are all Filipinos. It hurts me to see my soldiers and the NPAs dying because they are Filipinos. I’d prefer to fight another enemy, but not our own people,” he said. —KG, GMA News