Mine ban policy overview

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.

Implementation legislation has remained stalled in the Philippine House and Senate and no action appears to have been taken on either piece of legislation. 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 its September 2012 Article 7 report, the Philippines stated that it had no updated information on the status of congressional activity on an implementation law.[3]

As of 15 August 2013, the Philippines had not provided its Article 7 report, due 30 April 2013. It submitted its last report on 14 September 2012.[4] Its previous Article 7 report covered calendar year 2010. It has provided  nine previous reports.[5]

The Philippines attended the Twelfth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Geneva in December 2012 and intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva in May 2013. The Philippines also attended the Bangkok Symposium on Enhancing Cooperation & Assistance in June 2013 in Bangkok.

The Philippines is a State Party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II on landmines.

Production, transfer, stockpiling, and use

In September 2012, the Philippines reported that it had destroyed a further 271 M18A1 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] In April 2013, Brigadier General Noel Miano, Commander of the Munitions Control Center of the Armed Forces, clarified that this was comprised of 11 claymore mines, and 52 IEDs that did not have fuzes/detonators attached.[10]

Non-state armed groups

The Monitor could not identify any instances of use of antipersonnel mines (victim-activated explosive devices or booby-traps) by NSAGs during 2012 or the first half of 2013.

During 2012, the Munitions Control Center of the Armed Forces of the Philippines reported 29 incidents involving the deployment of “antipersonnel mines” by NSAGs. In these incidents, there were 43 dead and 153 injured.[11] However, when contacted, the Munitions Control Center stated that they follow ‘text book’ definitions, and because IEDs are not in their textbook they classify weapons according to those described in their textbook. He further stated the distinction between munitions which are victim-activated and those which are command-detonated is grey. They could not provide any information on the types and characteristics of explosive weapons in the incidents which they attributed to “antipersonnel mines” in their report.[12]

In the past, at least four NSAGs have used antipersonnel mines or victim-activated IEDs, including 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.[13]

 The peace talks between the government and MILF continued during 2012 and the first half of 2013, but talks stalled later in 2013.[14]

The NPA used command-detonated IEDs in 2012 and 2013.[15] Philippine authorities and the media continue to refer to these as “landmines.” 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.[16] 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.[17] The NPA has asserted that it manufactures and uses only command-detonated weapons allowed under the Mine Ban Treaty and, in its view, under the CARHRIHL.[18] 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.[19] 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.[20] This was followed by dissemination at 30 MILF bases to 3,184 combatants between October 2012 and March 2013 that was carried out by the General Staff of the MILF and the Institute of Bangsamoro Studies, in cooperation with Geneva Call.[21]