House Deputy Minority Leader slams proposed US ammunition plant in PH

📷: President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. with US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. on July 21, 2025. (Bongbong Marcos | FB)

House Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio denounced the Marcos Jr. administration’s reported participation in a US-led initiative to establish an ammunition manufacturing facility in the Philippines, calling it “moral bankruptcy and utter foolishness.”

Tinio warned that hosting a facility to load, assemble, and package 30mm cannon rounds for the US military would expose local communities to missile and drone strikes in the event of war, while deterring long-term foreign investment.

He cited the vulnerability of Gulf states’ oil infrastructure to Iranian attacks as a cautionary example, arguing that the Philippines lacks the resources to defend against similar threats.

The lawmaker criticized the US-led Partnership for Indo-Pacific Industrial Resilience, which involves 16 nations, as a scheme to outsource production of solid rocket motors, drones, and ammunition for “genocidal wars to maintain US hegemony.”

He accused Washington of using allies to manufacture weapons deployed against Iran, Palestinians, and Venezuela, and warned that the Philippines could be dragged into a regional conflict with China.

“We oppose the manufacturing of US weapons on our soil, call for the withdrawal of all foreign troops, bases, and weapons systems, and stand for a truly independent foreign policy,” Tinio said. # (ZIA LUNA)