Duterte asks Putin to provide soft loan for firearms

May 24, 2017

President Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday he asked Russian President Vladimir Putin that the Philippines be provided with firearms through a soft loan. Duterte said he brought this up during his nearly one-hour bilateral meeting with Putin at The Kremlin before he returned to Manila. "I said I need the firearms. I'm not asking for it. If you can give me a soft loan payable in so many years because I said, I am a poor country," Duterte said. Putin even asked Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana for the list, he said. "He (Putin) did it three times. 'Where is your list?' So I'm very happy, an indication that he has, he never said no. He said yes to all the proposed agenda in the bilateral (meeting)," Duterte added. During their meeting, he said they also exchanged ideas about terrorism and economics. (Celerina Monte/DMS)