Poor maintenance, not defects, caused rifles to malfunction —Army

Poor maintenance by soldiers caused several of their firearms to malfunction during a recent deadly encounter with the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu, the Philippine Army said Wednesday, as it denied that the rifles were defective.

"Most of the rifles inspected by our firearms experts were full of dirt," Army spokesperon Col. Benjamin Hao said in a statement. "After applying proper maintenance procedures, all rifles functioned well except for one M-14 rifle that has a destroyed barrel part."

An exclusive report by GMA News' Jun Veneracion on "24 Oras" on Tuesday said one factor behind the deaths of 15 soldiers during the August 29 encounter with the Abu Sayyaf was malfunctioning firearms.

The report quoted Hao as saying that investigation showed the soldiers have been using the firearms for a long period of time, with some of them using petroleum jelly instead of gun oil as lubricant.

"Ang pinakamabigat na nadiskubre namin nga ay petroleum jelly. One of the tendency ng ganun ay nagi-istuck talaga yung baril. Therefore talagang tendency niya, magi-stoppage talaga siya," Hao said in the report.

Following the encounter, the Army investigated eight R4A3 rifles, a K3 automatic rifle, and an M-14 rifle used in the operation. The rifles did not function well at first, but started firing well after maintenance procedures.

"Our conclusion is that the problem is not about the rifles. The prevailing weather and sustained on-going operations against the ASG partly affected the proper maintenance and care of the soldiers’ rifles," Hao said.

The Army reminded the soldiers to always keep their firearms well-maintained.

"We have already directed our operating troops to follow strictly the maintenance procedures of all our firearms and ammunition," Hao said. "Even the best war fighting equipment needs proper maintenance too." —Joseph Tristan Roxas and Jessica Bartolome/KBK, GMA News