Monday 05 / May / 2025
Manila: President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the cancellation on Monday of Philippine's purchase of police rifles from the United States, after US senatorial aides said last month that Washington was halting the sale due to concerns about human rights violations.
"We will not insist on buying expensive arms from the United States. We can always get them somewhere else. I am ordering the police to cancel it. We don't need them," Duterte said in a televised speech at a event attended by rebel leaders.
"We will just have to look for another source that is cheaper and maybe as durable and as good as those made in the place we are ordering them," Duterte said.
The relationship between the United States and the Philippines, a long-time ally, has been complicated lately by Duterte's angry reaction to criticism from Washington of his violent battle to rid the country of illegal drugs.
More than 2,300 people have been killed in police operations or by suspected vigilantes as part of government's anti-narcotics efforts, which was the linchpin of his election campaign.
Last month, Senate aides told Reuters that the US State Department halted the planned sale of some 26,000 assault rifles to the Philippines' national police after Senator Ben Cardin said he would oppose it because of concerns about human rights violations.
Duterte has said in the past that Russia and China had shown willingness to sell arms to the Philippines.
Also on Monday, Duterte agreed to sign the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, backtracking from his previous stance that he would not support a deal he believed would hurt the country's industrialisation hopes.
"After so much debate, the climate change (agreement) will be signed," he told journalists at the presidential palace.
"It was a cabinet decision, I'll go along with it and sign it."
Duterte had previously said he "will not honour" the proposed restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions, arguing that such "limitations" could stymie the country's industrialisation.
Duterte has been criticised for saying he would not recognise the country's commitments to the Paris pact, which came before his big victory in the May election.
His biggest critics include his mentor and former president Fidel Ramos.
Ramos, who has quit his job in the Duterte administration as special envoy to China, is a supporter of Duterte but has recently turned critical of the maverick leader, including over his position on the Paris accord.
Washington was not spared of Duterte's diatribes on Monday either, even in comments about the climate pact.
He said industrial countries were known not to honor obligations to contribute to a United Nations Green Climate Fund "especially America", which he said "has not paid its dues".
Manila has committed to reduce its emissions by 70 per cent by 2030, but it will need technical and financial support to achieve it.
The Philippines is among countries that suffer most from the impacts of climate change, such as strong storms including Super Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013, which killed more than 6,300 people.
