Palace won’t tolerate gun-running in any form, says official

From the Philippine News Agency (Mar 29): Palace won’t tolerate gun-running in any form, says official

Malacanang stressed on Saturday that it would not tolerate gun-running in the country, especially if it involved any member of the Philippine security forces.

Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte raised the issue following reports that United States Sen. Leland Yee of Californiaallegedly trafficked firearms from the Philippinesto the USthrough some members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

“We don’t tolerate any gun-running in any shape or form, especially if it involved someone belonging to the Armed Forces or to any of the security forces, for that matter," Valte said in an interview over state-run dzRB Radyo ng Bayan.

She noted that since Friday, the AFP and the Department of National Defense are already looking into the case.

So far, there has been no information as to whether members of the AFP were involved, she said.

“...None have turned up in the past few hours and we trust that the AFP will get to the bottom of it because they are also concerned,” Valte said.

She earlier dismissed reports quoting Yee as saying that the Philippines is “a very corrupt country” and that its government is secretly funding some Muslim rebel groups to distract the public from other state matters.

“I would not know about the basis of his opinion and, obviously, we do not share that opinion,” Valte said.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=630602