Philippines says U.S. lawmaker's bid to halt security aid won't succeed

MANILA, Sept 24 (Reuters) - A U.S. lawmaker's push to block
police and military aid to the Philippines over human rights
concerns is unlikely to succeed, because of the friendship
between the leaders of the two countries, a senior government
official on Thursday.
The Philippines is confident the United States will give
more weight to its ties with the Philippines and President
Rodrigo Duterte's personal friendship with counterpart Donald
Trump, said Duterte's spokesman, Harry Roque.
Roque during a regular briefing dismissed as a "wild
suggestion" the bill filed by U.S. Representative Susan Wild,
which seeks suspension of American aid to the Philippine
military and police, due to concerns over an anti-terrorism law
that took effect in July.
The new law has been condemned by rights groups at home and
abroad as a weapon to target Duterte's opponents and stifle free
speech. Numerous petitions have been filed with the Supreme
Court to try to block it. Duterte says law-abiding citizens should not fear the law,
which is intended for "terrorists" and communist insurgents.
Critics, however, fear the vague definition of what constitutes
a "terrorist" could be abused.
Wild's bill comes four years after the U.S. State Department
halted the planned sale of some 26,000 assault rifles to the
Philippine police, after Senator Ben Cardin vowed to block the
deal due to the high number of killings in Duterte's police-led
war on drugs.
That move angered Duterte, a fierce critic of U.S. foreign
policy who speaks fondly of Trump and has been praised by the
U.S. president for his tough approach to drugs.
Military spokesman Edgard Arevalo in a separate news
conference said all Filipino soldiers operated "within the
limits and bounds of respect for human rights, law of armed
conflict".