Key developments
since March 1999: The Philippines deposited its instrument of ratification
on 15 February 2000. Increased hostilities in 2000 have included the use of
antipersonnel mines or improvised explosive devices by three rebel groups: Moro
Islamic Liberation Front, Abu Sayyaf, and New People’s Army.
Government Mine Ban Policy
The Philippines signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3
December 1997. On 10 January 2000 the Philippine Senate ratified the Mine Ban
Treaty. In his sponsorship speech, Senator Francisco Tatad, chair of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, said the treaty is a milestone in the disarmament
process: “With the signing of the Convention, the landmine issue which was
considered primarily a disarmament issue was transformed into a humanitarian
concern and a human rights issue.” He added that “small countries
like the Philippines could make a difference in international affairs and the
success of the Ottawa Process was a humbling experience for big powers such as
the U.S. which bitterly opposed
it.”[1]
The instrument of ratification was deposited with the Secretary-General of
the UN on 15 February 2000. The treaty will enter into force for the
Philippines on 1 August 2000.
The Philippines attended the First Meeting of State Parties held in Maputo in
May 1999 as a signatory state. The Philippines participated in Intersessional
Standing Committee of Experts meetings on mine clearance in September 1999, on
mine action technologies in May 2000 and on general status of the convention in
May 2000 in Geneva. The Philippines voted in favor of the December 1999 UN
General Assembly resolution in support of the Mine Ban Treaty, as it had for
similar resolutions in 1997 and 1998.
The Philippines is a party to Amended Protocol II (Landmines) of the
Convention on Conventional Weapons. It attended and submitted its Article 13
transparency report to the First Annual Conference of States Parties to the
amended protocol in December 1999 in Geneva. The Philippines is not a member of
the Conference on Disarmament.
Rebel Groups’ Mine Ban Policies
Although landmine use by both rebel and government
forces was effectively banned under cease-fire and human rights agreements among
the parties, many of these agreements were rescinded in 1999 and 2000 due to the
breakdown of negotiations and resumption of fighting. The first half of 2000
thus witnessed increased rebel activity, including landmine use by three rebel
groups: Abu Sayyaf, New People’s Army (NPA), and Moro Islamic Liberation
Front (MILF). Two other groups, the Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng
Manggagawa-Pilipinas (RPM-P) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF),
continue to observe pledges not to use mines.
Abu Sayyaf
The Abu Sayyaf (Bearer of the Sword) is a radical Islamic armed group that
claims it is waging a jihad against the government. It openly engages in
kidnappings and bombings and embraces the use of landmines.
NPA
The New People’s Army is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the
Philippines-National Democratic Front (CPP-NDF). Prior agreements between the
government and CPP-NDF specifically provided the right of both parties not to be
subjected to indiscriminate bombings and the use of landmines. The NPA used
antipersonnel mines regularly in the past. Peace negotiations with the CPP-NDF
were suspended in a dispute over the Senate ratification of the Visiting Forces
Agreement with the United States. The suspension spurred renewed clashes
between government troops and the NPA. The NPA raided police and military
camps, kidnapped high-ranking military officials, and ambushed military convoys
with the aid of mines.
MILF
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front withdrew from peace talks in April 2000
after government troops assaulted a main rebel camp. The MILF has subsequently
made use of antipersonnel mines in its clashes with government troops.
The MILF formally agreed in 1997 to stop the use of antipersonnel mines. The
MILF’s 1997 policy on landmine use was reiterated in the Geneva conference
on Non-State Actors on 24-25 March 2000, just prior to the outbreak of
hostilities. MILF representative Atty. Lanang Ali announced that “except
in strictly ‘defensive and discriminate’ use of landmines for the
defense, preservation or survival of the MILF and the Bangsamoro people, with
due regards to the safety and right of innocent people to live a full life, and
not to kill, injure or harm those who do not fight, the MILF has adopted
internal regulations prohibiting the use, stockpiling, production and transfer
of antipersonnel
mines.”[2] It also noted
that it had strictly observed the provision in the November 1997 Agreement on
the General Cessation of Hostilities, which identified the use of landmines
among the prohibited hostile
acts.[3]
The MILF “prohibition” was clearly only a partial restriction:
“If needed for defense (self preservation), the MILF/BIAF [Bangsamoro
Islamic Armed Forces, the MILF armed wing], will use antipersonnel mines, but
discriminately, only when the need of it arises or as the situation dictates,
and upon order of the concerned MILF Commander on the ground during actual
combat. MILF/BIAF APMs and ATMs, foreign and home-made, are command-detonated,
tripwire, pressured triggered, or any of it
(sic).”[4]
Stating that its use of APMs is strictly in accordance with Islamic rules and
disciplines, the MILF prohibited the following:
the indiscriminate use of APMs even during armed conflict
the participation of minors, women, and unauthorized members or civilians in
the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of APMs;
the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of APMs near population
centers, places of worship, schools, business establishments, residential areas,
farm and farm-to-market roads, and even areas inhabited by working animals;
the use, etc., of AP mines without order or clearance from the MILF
Commander on the ground during actual combat when the enemy attacks the MILF
camp;
the use, etc., of APMs outside MILF camps, except when needed for the
defense of MILF camps and upon clearance from the Chief of Staff of the
BIAF.[5]
The MILF
ordered the strict monitoring of APMs with location maps and visible signs
indicating “Mined Areas – Keep
OUT.”[6]
On 27 March 2000, the MILF signed and deposited a Deed of Commitment for
adherence to a total ban on antipersonnel mines with Geneva Call, a
Swiss-registered non-governmental and nonpartisan body. Under the “Deed
of Commitment under Geneva Call for Adherence to a Total Ban on Anti-Personnel
Mines and for Cooperation in Mine Action,” the MILF committed itself not
to use antipersonnel landmines under any circumstances. This commitment has not
been kept.
RPM-P/RPA-ABB
The Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa-Pilipinas (RPM-P) and its armed
wing, the Revolutionary Proletarian Party-Alex Boncayao Briagade (RPA-ABB), both
splinter groups from the CPP, in meetings with the Philippine Campaign to Ban
Landmines, pledged to renounce the use of
landmines.[7] Stating that the
use of AP mines has proven to be extremely prejudicial to the lives and safety
of civilians, and destructive to properties and the environment, the
RPM-P/RPA-ABB declared its opposition to the use and production of AP mines and
gave full support to the global campaign to ban mines.On 27 March 2000,
the RPM-P/RPA-ABB also signed and deposited the Deed of Commitment for adherence
to a total ban on antipersonnel mines with Geneva Call.
MNLF
The peace agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front continued to hold
as of May 2000.
Production, Transfer, and Stockpiling
The Philippines does not produce antipersonnel
mines, though it may have been a minor producer in the
past.[8] It has never exported
mines. It imported Claymore-type mines from the U.S. in the past. The
government states that it destroyed its entire stockpile of mines in 1997.
Rebel groups fabricate improvised explosive devices and homemade mines. (See
below, and see Landmine Monitor Report 1999, pp. 421-422). It is not
possible to assess the holdings of the various rebel groups. There have been
reports of attempts by rebel groups to acquire mines from other sources. Citing
a guerrilla source, a newspaper reported in February 1999 that the MILF was
awaiting an arms shipment from Afghanistan. Among other items, the shipment
allegedly contained
landmines.[9] A report the
following month indicated that the clandestine shipment already slipped into the
country on 15 March 1999. The arms shipment was allegedly funded by Saudi
dissident Osama Bin Laden. However, MILF political affairs chief Ghazali Jaafar
denied having received any shipment and insisted that they manufacture their own
weapons.[10]
Use
There is no evidence of use of antipersonnel mines
by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in the fighting in 1999 and
2000.
The AFP’s summary of landmine incidents from January to June 2000 lists
six incidents attributed to the MILF, with landmines found or exploded in
Maguindanao and Cotabato provinces, resulting the death of two soldiers and
injuries to fourteen soldiers and three civilians. Two incidents are attributed
to the Abu Sayyaf, both during the Basilan hostage crisis, resulting in injuries
to two soldiers, including one who lost both
legs.[11] Another incident on
26 June, in which twelve soldiers died, is attributed to the
NPA.[12]
A highly reliable source in the MNLF has also admitted that to defend and
preserve the MILF in the recent AFP offensives, the MILF has planted
victim-activated antipersonnel mines in certain “no man’s
land” zones in the defense perimeter of its main camp in Central Mindanao.
The Philippine Campaign has pointed out that such victim-activated mines are not
“discriminate” because they can victimize non-combatants who might
stray into the area.[13]
Landmine victim Corporal Jurelyn Gargoles of the Sixth Infantry Battalion
described the heavy fortification of an MILF satellite camp in Langkong,
Matanog, Maguindanao. On 13 May 2000 the AFP launched offensives against the
camp. It took them six hours to penetrate because of the landmines used as
perimeter defense of the camps. Sgt. Gargoles described the mines as very
difficult to detect. There were no signs of freshly disturbed earth or visible
parts of a planted mine. The landmines had already blended well with the
surroundings, an indication that the mines had been there for quite sometime.
Corporal Gargoles recalled that they were under fire and his first reaction was
to take cover behind a tree. When he did so, Corporal Gargoles activated a
homemade mine tied at the base of the tree. The explosion severely damaged his
right femur and he sustained shrapnel wounds around his
body.[14]
In the Sipadan island kidnapping incident in May 2000, the Abu Sayyaf group
allegedly used landmines to slow down the rescue operations conducted by AFP
troops. The Abu Sayyaf, composed mostly of young Muslims, operates in Basilan,
Sulu, and the Zamboanga peninsula. The Abu Sayyaf kidnapped nineteen foreigners
and two Filipinos in a beach resort in Sipadan Island, Malaysia on 23 April 2000
and brought them to Talipao, Jolo, Sulu. Some villagers in Barangay Bilaan,
Talipao reportedly fled their homes after witnessing members of the Abu Sayyaf
planting and even test-blasting
landmines.[15]
Following a military offensive launched against the Abu Sayyaf’s main
camp on 25 April 2000, landmines were discovered planted as perimeter defense.
The Abu Sayyaf reportedly claimed that government troops suffered casualties due
to landmines. The AFP, on its part, said that bad weather conditions and
landmines hampered their pursuit
operations.[16] Sergeant Armando
Villanueva of the First Scout Ranger Regiment described how they discovered the
newly planted homemade mines. They noticed freshly dug earth while maneuvering
towards the camp of the Abu Sayyaf in Punoh Mahajid, Sumisip, Basilan. A
thorough examination of the area revealed some of the homemade landmines. Since
it was very dangerous to demine the area, they were left with no option but to
only mark it with sticks. They tied a piece of white cloth to the tip of the
stick as a warning sign to other troops. Sergeant Villanueva stepped on a
landmine that day, and lost both his legs.[17]
The New People’s Army is reported to have used homemade landmines,
especially antivehicle mines, recently. On 27 June 2000, the NPA reportedly used
an antivehicle mine against a military truck to set off the ambush which killed
an Army brigade commander and twelve soldiers in Isabela province in northern
Philippines.[18] Another
NPA-staged ambush on 4 July in Oriental Mindoro, Southern Tagalog region, used a
landmine that exploded a police van. The rebels then open fired on the van and a
second accompanying vehicle, leading the death of eight
policemen.[19]
Three months earlier, in a staged ambush against local police in Sablayan
town, Occidental Mindoro, Southern Luzon on 12 April 2000, two policemen were
killed while three others were seriously wounded in the ambush that included the
use of mines. “The troops were in the area to find the NPA stronghold and
retrieve landmines that the NPA planted in some isolated areas of Sablayan and
Calintaan towns,” Occidental Mindoro Police Deputy Winston Ebersole said
in an interview by
journalists.[20]
In an interview with the Philippine Campaign, Ka Dorie, a former NPA rebel in
Northern Mindanao admitted that they used landmines in their operations,
especially in planned ambushes. Materials used were commercially available.
Detonators, she said in the local language, “are easily
improvised.”[21]
According to Ka Dorie, landmine use by the NPA in Northern Mindanao, Southern
Philippines declined in recent years since the death of their landmine
“expert” in an encounter.
Sometime in 1998, the Fourth Infantry Division in Cagayan de Oro City filed a
complaint at the Commission on Human Rights (CHR)-Butuan City against the NPA
for their use of "homemade" mines. The complaint, which documented cases of
victims of landmines in the Infantry Division’s area of operations in the
northern and other parts of Eastern Mindanao, has not been acted on to
date.[22]
Mine Clearance
The AFP reported the recovery of landmines and
landmine paraphernalia from encounters with Moro rebels in Basilan and Cotabato,
as follows: six 12-ounce bottles of homemade landmines; homemade landmines made
of nineteen sticks of super dyne explosives, four blasting caps and four pieces
of BA 30 batteries; and an improvised pressure release-type antitank
landmine.[23]
The military conducted clearing operations immediately after the MILF rebels
pulled out of their Talayan town hall siege last January 2000. Bomb experts were
dispatched to remove landmines allegedly planted by the rebels along portions of
the highway linking Cotabato and General Santos City. Metal detectors were used
in the demining operations.
The Philippine Army Headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in a
Letter Directive dated 5 November 1999 prescribes guidelines and procedures for
the granting of Special Promotions to Enlisted Personnel (EP) and cash rewards
for the recovery of enemy combat equipment. A provision in the directive
specifically grants cash rewards of P1,000 (equivalent to $25) for every
landmine recovered in a combat operation. A bigger reward is given for
high-powered weapons. The directive took effect on 1 January
2000.[24]
Mine Casualties and Survivor Assistance
There are no comprehensive statistics on landmine
victims. Except for battle/special reports submitted to the J3 (Operations
Division of the AFP) and occasional newspaper reports, no other data sources on
landmine victims are available. Military hospital records do not give
information on the nature or cause of a surgical
case.[25]
The AFP report on landmine incidents from 1 January to 23 June 2000
identifies twenty-one casualties: two military personnel killed, sixteen
military personnel injured, and three civilians
injured.[26] In a letter to the
ICBL dated 30 June 2000, the Secretary of National Defense Orlando S. Mercado
indicated that an additional twelve soldiers died on 26 June after the NPA used
a landmine against them.[27]
As of March 2000, the MILF claimed that there had been no civilian casualties
or victims of landmines blamed on to the MILF/BIAF “due to strict
precautionary measures, secrecy and proper monitoring undertaken by BIAF
commanders, considering that the MILF is a mass-based
resistance.”[28] However,
the major offensives on MILF camps in the succeeding months revealed landmines
planted in camp perimeters. Three civilians and fourteen soldiers were injured,
and two soldiers died, in the six landmine incidents from April to June 2000
attributed to the MILF.[29]
In an interview, the NPA’s Ka Dorie admitted that civilians were not
spared from the landmines NPA planted. She vividly recalled an incident in
Misamis Oriental wherein a woman and her two children accidentally stepped on an
improvised landmine while they were gathering kamote (sweet potatoes).
They died instantly. The NPA unit in the area deeply regretted the incident but
denied responsibility for what
happened.[30]
Military station hospitals do not have the facilities and funds to make their
own prosthetics and implants. They have to refer their patients to the AFP
Medical Center (AFPMC) in Quezon
City.[31]
Wounded AFP personnel, according to Operation Officer of the AFP-MC Major
Majubaldo Malupeng, will receive Disability Benefits from the Government Service
Insurance System (GSIS). The amount depends on the category of the injuries.
They will also receive funds from the Mutual Benefits Association, Inc., an
insurance company of the AFP. President Estrada also gave the wounded soldiers
in the recent fighting in Mindanao 20,000 pesos each and promised educational
plans for their children. They were also promised scholarships for computer
training in the event that they can no longer serve as
combatants.[32]
[1] Senator Francisco Tatad’s
Sponsorship Speech, “Let’s Take Out All The Landmines Now,” 10
November 1999. [2] “MILF Official
Declaration on the International Campaign to Ban Antipersonnel Mines,”
signed by MILF Central Committee Vice-Chairman for Political Affairs Ghazali
Jaafar, 13 March 2000, Camp Abubakar, Maguindanao,
Mindanao. [3]
Ibid. [4] “MILF Views on Landmine
Use,” signed by MILF Central Committee Vice-Chairman for Political Affairs
Ghazali Jaafar, on 13 March 2000, Camp Abubakar, Maguindanao,
Mindanao. [5] “MILF Internal
Regulations on the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel
Mines,” signed by Ghazali
Jaafar. [6]
Ibid. [7] This pledge was made public in
the conference, “Engaging Non-State Actors in a Landmine Ban: A Pioneering
Conference,” hosted by the Swiss Campaign to Ban Landmines, in cooperation
with the Philippine Campaign to Ban Landmines and a number of other national
mine ban campaigns, Geneva, 24-25 March 2000. A full report of the conference is
available from the Swiss CBL,
ereusse@worldcom.ch. [8] See Landmine
Monitor Report 1999, p. 421. [9] Nonoy
E. Lacson, "MILF awaits arms shipment from Afghanistan," Tempo ONLINE, 22
February 1999. The report said the arms would be delivered aboard a foreign
vessel named M/V Alkeen Perdaba to Surabaya in Indonesia. From there, the
shipment would be escorted by MILF division commanders to Tawau district in
Sabah, Malaysia. The arms would then be transferred and distributed to dozens of
pumpboats and delivered to ten remote coastal areas in Sarangani and Davao del
Sur. The military identified these areas as Tinoto, Maasim, Mindupok, Maitum,
Malapatan and Colan, all in Sarangani province; Tibungko and Toril in Davao
City; Sta. Cruz in Davao del Sur; and at the Matimus Point. MILF chair Hashim
Salamat reportedly ordered fifty mujahideens to guard each of the designated
unloading site in Central Mindanao to ensure that the arms will reach their
destinations. [10] “Secret arms
shipment slips into Mindanao,” Tempo ONLINE, March 20,
1999. [11] Memorandum for the Secretary
of National Defense, Subject: Landmine-Related Incidents, from the AFP Chief of
Staff, signed by Maj. Gen. Antonio C. Santos, OJ3 (received by the DND on 28
July 2000). [12] Letter from Secretary
of National Defense Orlando S. Mercado to Coordinator, ICBL, 30 June
2000. [13] Philippine Campaign to Ban
Landmines, “Preliminary Report and Statement on the Recent Landmine
Incidents in the Mindanao Conflict: Coming to a Higher Level of Attention and
Engagement,” 30 June 2000. [14]
Interview with Corporal Jurelyn Gargoles, Heroes Ward, AFP Medical Center, 1
June 2000. [15] Noralyn Mustafa et. al.,
“Foreigners threatened with beheading if...,” Philippine Daily
Inquirer, 29 April 2000, p.1, 16. [16]
Chandler E. Ramas III, “AFP closes in on Abu’s main camp,”
Philippine Post, 24 April 2000, p.1,
A14. [17] Interview with Sergeant
Armando Villanueva, Heroes Ward, Armed Forces of the Philippines Medical Center,
1 June 2000. [18] Villamor Visaya, Jr.,
“Colonel, 12 soldiers die in ambush,” Philippine Daily Inquirer, 26
June 2000, p.1. [19] Joel Jabal,
“NPA rebels kill 8 cops in Mindoro ambush,” Philippine Daily
Inquirer, 6 July 2000. [20] Joel Jabal,
“Mindoro NPAs strike, kill 2 cops,” Philippine Daily Inquirer, 14
April 2000, p.15. [21] Interview with
Enercita Lopez, aka Ka Dorie, a former regular member of the New People’s
Army for 18 years, Cagayan de Oro City, 3 January
2000. [22] Interview with Maj. Johnny
Macanas, 4ID spokesman and Assistant Chief of Staff, G7 Civil-Military
Operations, Fourth Infantry Division, Camp Edilberto Evangelista, Cagayan de Oro
City, 4 January 2000. [23] Memorandum
for the Secretary of National Defense, Subject: Landmine-Related Incidents, from
the AFP Chief of Staff, signed by Maj. Gen. Antonio C. Santos, OJ3 (received by
the DND on 28 July 2000). [24]
“Special Promotion, Cash Rewards for Recovered Enemy Combat
Equipment,” Headquarters Philippine Army Directive dated 5 November
1999. [25] Phone interview with Maj.
Edwin Bautista (MC) PA, Executive Officer Camp Evangelista Station Hospital,
Cagayan de Oro City, 3 January
2000. [26] Memorandum for the Secretary
of National Defense, Subject: Landmine-Related Incidents, from the AFP Chief of
Staff, signed by Maj. Gen. Antonio C. Santos, OJ3 (received by the DND on 28
July 2000). [27] Letter from Secretary
of National Defense Orlando S. Mercado to Coordinator, ICBL, 30 June
2000. [28] “MILF Views on Landmine
Use,” signed by MILF Central Committee Vice-Chairman for Political Affairs
Ghazali Jaafar, on 13 March 2000, Camp Abubakar, Maguindanao,
Mindanao. [29] Memorandum for the
Secretary of National Defense, Subject: Landmine-Related Incidents, 28 July
2000. [30] Interview with Enercita
Lopez, aka Ka Dorie, Cagayan de Oro City, 3 January
2000. [31] Phone interview with Maj.
Edwin Bautista (MC) PA, Executive Officer Camp Evangelista Station Hospital,
Cagayan de Oro City, 3 January
2000. [32] Interview with Major
Majubaldo Malupeng, Operations Officer, AFP Medical Center, 1 June
2000.
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