CHINA is offering to give 23,000 M4 carbine assault rifles to the Philippines, months after US lawmakers scuttled the sale of a similar number of long arms to the Philippine National Police over concerns about human rights violations, PNP chief Ronald dela Rosa said Wednesday.
“We will not be buying… It will be for free,” Dela Rosa said, calling the offer a gesture of goodwill.
The police chief said no deal has been signed yet, but said the donation will be done through a government-to-government agreement.
The rifles will be distributed to policemen assigned in rebel-infested provinces, which have been the site of recent attacks by the communist New People’s Army.
Dela Rosa said the offer of rifles was made during President Rodrigo Duterte’s last trip to China.
Last year, the PNP has had signed a contract to buy 26,000 Sig Sauer M4 rifles from a US manufacturer, but the US State Department stopped the deal over human rights concerns in Duterte’s war on drugs.
Dela Rosa said the PNP was still open to buying the US guns because the police force still needs more rifles.
“We are 175,000 compared to the 23,000 [rifles] that would be given my China,” Dela Rosa said. “We need more.”
The PNP is currently trying to modernize its arms and equipment to improve its capability to combat terrorist groups.
