Lacson: PHL won’t lose anything if US stops rifle sale

Senator Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday said the Philippines “does not stand to lose anything” if the US State Department would halt the planned sale of some 26,000 assault rifles to the Philippine National Police (PNP).

“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.

“There are tens of other countries that manufacture better and probably cheaper assault rifles than the US,” he added.

Lacson urged the Department of National Defense (PNP) to revive its self-reliance program instead.

“There is now more reason for our Department of National Defense to revive our self-reliance program so we can produce our own weapons and ammunition and other military hardware,” he said.

A Reuters report said the planned sale of rifles was halted following opposition from Senator Ben Cardin over concerns about human rights violations in the Philippines.

Lacson, however, argued that Senator Cardin’s opposition was based merely on the US lawmaker's own opinion.

Lacson, chairman of the Senate public order committee, said there is no proof yet that killings were state-sanctioned.

“I have yet to see an investigation with the conclusion that massive and state-sanctioned human rights violations were committed under the present regime's drive against illegal drugs,” he said.

The Senate justice and human rights committee has recently concluded its probe on alleged extrajudicial killings. The committee report is set to be released next week when Senate session resumes but Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the panel, had already said that there was no reason to believe that the killings were state-sponsored. — RSJ, GMA News