Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Policy

The Republic of the Philippines signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008.

In May 2013, a Department of Foreign Affairs official informed the Philippine Campaign Against Cluster Munitions (PCACM) it is “still in the process of consulting other agencies and obtaining their concurrence on whether we should ratify the convention.” According to the official, “ratification would entail obligations on our part so we would like to be sure that our capabilities to comply with these obligations are in place. The process therefore takes some time. Rest assured however that it is forthcoming.”[1]

Officials have stated that there is no timetable for presenting the ratification package to Congress and acknowledged that the ratification process lacked urgency and momentum.[2]

During 2012 and the first half of 2013, the Philippines did not provide any updates to States Parties on its ratification of the convention. In 2011 and 2010, the Philippines informed States Parties of its intent to ratify the convention but provided few details on the status of the process.[3]

The Philippines actively participated in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions and sought the most comprehensive treaty possible.[4]

The Philippines has continued to engage in the work of the convention. It attended the convention’s Third Meeting of States Parties in Oslo, Norway in September 2012, where it made a statement, and participated in intersessional meetings of the convention in Geneva in April 2013.

The Philippines is not known to have made a public statement condemning Syria’s use of cluster munitions.

The PCACM is encouraging swift ratification of the Convention on Cluster Munitions and has conducted awareness-raising activities, including a flash mob and a public billboard,[5]

The Philippines is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Interpretive issues

The Philippines has not yet provided its views on certain important issues related to interpretation and implementation of the convention, including the prohibition on transit, the prohibition on foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions, the prohibition on investment in production of cluster munitions, and the need for retention of cluster munitions and submunitions for training and development purposes.

On the prohibition on assistance, the Philippines has stated that it “has no intention to assist, encourage or induce any state, group or individual to engage in any of the prohibited activities.”[6]

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

The Philippines has stated several times that it has not used, produced, stockpiled, or supplied cluster munitions.[7] In September 2011, the Philippines said that its armed forces have a standing directive that cluster munitions cannot be included as operational requirements.[8]

In April 2013, the demining NGO Swiss Foundation for Mine Action (Fondation Suisse de Deminage) received an unexploded 0-pound (9 kilogram) M41A1 fragmentation bomb, made in the United States, that had been recovered by the explosive ordnance disposal unit attached to the Philippine Army’s 10th Infantry Division from a construction site at Lanang in Davao City.[9] The use of an AN-M1A1 cluster adaptor enabled six M41A1 fragmentation bombs to be deployed at the same time, making the weapon similar in function to a modern-day cluster munition. To date, this is the only such bomb to have been found in the Philippines, and no adaptor has been recovered.