Commitment to the Mine Ban Treaty

Policy

The Republic of the Philippines signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified it on 15 February 2000, becoming a State Party on 1 August 2000.

In February 2011, the “Act Providing for a Total Ban on Anti-Personnel Landmines, for Other Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Landmines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices, For The Creation of a Philippine Coordinating Committee on Landmines, and for Related Purposes” was re-filed in Congress as House Bill 04159 by Rep. Walden Bello of the Akbayan Party. The bill has been with the Committee on National Defense and Security since February 2011.[1] The bill was also filed in the Philippine Senate on 5 July 2010 by Gregorio B. Honasan II and by Manny B. Villar Jr. on 12 July 2010 as SBN 1244; it has been pending in committee since August 2010.[2] In September 2012, the Philippines stated in their Article 7 report that it had no updated information on the status of congressional activity on an implementation law.[3]

On 14 September 2012, the Philippines provided its twelfth Article 7 report.[4] Its previous Article 7 report covered calendar year 2010. It has provided eleven previous reports.[5]

The Philippines participated in the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Phnom Penh in November–December 2011, where it made a statement on cooperation and assistance. The Philippines also became the co-chair of the Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction in 2011.

The Philippines is a State Party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its Amended Protocol II on landmines. It has not joined Protocol V on explosive remnants of war.

Production, transfer, stockpiling, and use

In September 2012, the Philippines reported that it had destroyed a further 271 Claymore antipersonnel mines discovered during inspections at ammunition depots.[6] The Philippines reports that it has never produced or exported antipersonnel mines. It destroyed its entire stockpile of antipersonnel mines—all Claymore-type mines—in 1998. It has not retained any live mines for training purposes. The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has stated that it has never used antipersonnel mines to combat insurgency groups within the country.

Media reports regularly state that authorities have recovered “landmines” during operations against insurgents, almost all of which appear to be command-detonated improvised explosive devices (IEDs).[7] In December 2009, the Philippines told States Parties that all landmines and IEDs recovered from non-state armed groups (NSAGs) are destroyed immediately.[8] In September 2012, the Philippines reported that it had recovered and destroyed 63 improvised antipersonnel mines during operations.[9]

Non-state armed groups

In the past, at least four NSAGs have used antipersonnel mines or victim-activated IEDs: the New People’s Army (NPA), the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG). Five NSAGs, including the MILF, have formally pledged in writing not to use antipersonnel mines.[10] The government of the Philippines has engaged in ongoing peace talks with both the NPA and MILF during 2011 and the first half of 2012.

The Monitor could not identify any specific instances of use of antipersonnel mines (victim-activated explosive devices or booby-traps) by NSAGs during 2011. However, in January 2012 one child was killed and another injured in what media reports portrayed as a victim-activated explosion on the island of Sulu.[11] In February 2012, another civilian died while hunting after reportedly stepping on an explosive device in Zamboangadel Norte.[12]

In its previous Article 7 report covering 2009, the Philippines reported that the AFP investigated “various instances of use of Anti-Personnel Mines by Armed Non-State Actors” in 2009, but the report does not comment on any findings.[13]

The NPA continued to use command-detonated IEDs in 2011 and 2012, which continue to be referred to as “landmines” by Philippine authorities and the media. The NPA (the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, CPP) signed a Comprehensive Agreement to Respect Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) with the Philippine government in 1998.[14] The CARHRIHL commits both parties to protect the civilian population by not violating the “right not to be subjected to...the use of landmines,” but does not define “landmine.”

Government and AFP officials accuse the NPA of violating CARHRIHL by using command-detonated mines.[15] The NPA has previously asserted that it manufactures and uses only command-detonated weapons allowed under the Mine Ban Treaty and, in its view, the CARHRIHL.[16] In some cases, attacks with these weapons have killed or injured civilians.[17] In June 2012, the government raised the issue of landmine use during informal talks with the NPA/National Democratic Front in Oslo, specifying that in its view such use was a violation of the CARHRIHL.[18]

The Philippine Government and the CPP-NPA agreed to two ceasefires, one for 19 days in December 2010[19] and another for seven days in February 2011, in support of formal peace talks in Oslo.[20] A government official was reported to say that landmine use by the NPA would be on the agenda for the Oslo meeting.[21] The Philippine Campaign to Ban Landmines (PCBL) welcomed the government plan to take up the contentious issue on the use of landmines when its peace panel would meet with them in Oslo.[22]

IEDs as well as the components and explosives for their manufacture, such as detonating cord and wire, Claymore canisters, gins of super dyne explosive bombs, and blasting caps, were all recovered from 1 June 2010 to 21 February 2011 in Kalinga, Laguna, Rizal, Batangas, Aurora, Quezon, Oriental Mindoro, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Masbate Luzon, Samar, Eastern Samar, Capiz, Iloilo in the Visayas, Davao City, Davao Oriental, Surigao del Sur, Agusan del Sur, Bukidnon, Compostela Valley, and Misamis Occidental.[23] These IEDs and their components have been attributed to the NPA. The AFP also reported the recovery of components for explosives from the MNLF in Sulu in May 2010.[24] Other incidents involving IEDs were attributed to political rivalry and extortionists.

In September 2012, it was reported that the MILF placed an order within their code of conduct to start actively fulfilling the obligations to ban possession, use or production of antipersonnel mines or victim-activated explosive devices. Also in September 2012, Geneva Call held a workshop on the Deed of Commitment at the Training Center of the Bangsamoro Leadership and Management Institute.[25]

The government of the Philippines and the MILF signed guidelines to allow the PCBL and Swiss Foundation for Mine Action (FSD) to engage in clearance to support community rehabilitation in conflict areas in Mindanao in May 2010.[26] In 2011 and early 2012, the PCBL provided briefings regarding clearance to the entities involved in the peace process in Mindanao.[27]

Geneva Call has also conducted trainings to clarify the scope of the Deed of Commitment for members of the Revolutionary Workers Party of Mindanao/Revolutionary Peoples’ Army and for two factions of the Revolutionary Workers Party of the Philippines/Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayo Brigade.[28]