US military arms aksaya sa pera

AKSAYA sa pera ng bayan ang pagbili ng mga armas pandigma sa Amerika, ayon kay Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte.

Sinabi ng Pangulo na bagama’t nagpapasalamat siya sa pagiging galante ng US sa Filipinas ngunit hindi magagamit nang maayos ng bansa ang mga biniling military equipment sa Amerika dahil kulang ito.

Inihalimbawa ng Pangulo ang ibinentang dalawang F50-A ng Amerika na hindi kasama ang missiles o bala nito kaya wala rin silbi at sayang lang ang pera.

“You know, I’ll tell you something. The Defense Secretary is here. The National Security Adviser with the President of the Republic of the Philippines, my adviser is here. We are a recipient of so many things from America. Thank you for your generosity, but they sold us two—only two F50-As. It’s F50-A, but they never gave us the missiles and the bullets and the cannons to fire from that. For ceremonial lang, zoom. Kaya ako when I was in became… when I was sworn in as Presidents I told them, “Do not waste,” ayon sa Pangulo sa kanyang talumpati sa harap ng Filipino community sa Jakarta, Indonesia kahapon.

Tiniyak niya na ang Indonesia at Malaysia lang ang makatutulong sa problema sa Abu Sayyaf Group, piracy at South China Sea.

“Dito sa Abu Sayyaf, they are now officially telling everybody that they are with ISIS, and that makes it doubly really terrible. We’d have to do something about this because I said, and I had to come here to talk to President Widodo, to talk about how we can control piracy in the Malacca Straits and those travelling—ships travelling between Indonesia and the Philippines and Malaysia. I don’t know how we do it but Malaysian representatives are not here so it could only be a partnership,” aniya.

Makalipas ang ilang oras ay nilagdaan na nina Pangulong Duterte at Indonesian President Joko Widodo ang joint declaration on maritime security in Sulu Sea.

Habang sa usapin ng South China Sea ay aminado ang Pangulo na walang kakayahan ang Filipinas sa lakas ng China kaya sa diplomatikong paraan nais niyang resolbahin ang tunggalian sa teritoryo.

“We can only—it’s only Indonesia, Malaysia who can help us, nobody else. Nobody. It seems to me that everybody is scared. There is not even a decisive move in the South China Sea. Pero we have only two options there: we talk or we fight. Philippines to fight China, it will be a slaughter so we talk. We cannot match,” aniya.

Nauna nang inihayag ng Pangulo na hindi muna igigiit ng Filipinas ang desisyon ng Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) na sakop ng 200-mile exclusive economic zone ang mga inaangking teritoryo ng Beijing sa South China Sea.

Hinimok ng Pangulo si Widodo na “ipakain na lang sa mga pating” ang mga nahuhuling pirata dahil ang piracy ay kasalanan sa sanlibutan.

“The rule ng… sa International water is this: If you are a pirate, you can be arrested by any nation because piracy or piracy is a crime against humanity. But this time we make it clear that if the chase is began in Indonesia, here, then crosses the… the chase that continues in the international waters and if they are really fast enough also inside now the Philippines waters they can go ahead and blast them off. That’s the agreement. Pasabugin mo na. That’s what—that’s one of my words actually to—when I was seated with the President Widodo. And I said, “blow them up.” And if there’s a hostage, usually it is a… the sailors, then I will just have to… maybe, crowd them in and arrest them, and execute them. In the Philippines it’s not allowed to, that’s why I said that, “maybe there are sharks around and just feed them to the sharks.” It would make them fat. Good for sashimi also. So iyan ho ang ano ko dito,” paliwanag niya.

( ROSE NOVENARIO )