Landmine becoming weapon of choice- AFP

From the Philippine Information Agency (Sep 10): Landmine becoming  weapon of choice- AFP

The use of landmines in Davao Region appears to  become a  casual way of staging an offensive operation as the number of such incident has  increased  since year 2010 up to September, 2013 as reported by the Civil Military Operations of the 10th Infantry Division of the Philippine  Army.

Reports from the CMO Battalion of the 10th ID monitored nine landmine incidents in each of the years 2010, 2011 and 2012.

From January to September this year, the CMO registered 15  landmine  incidents, bringing to a total of 42  of such incidents since 2010 in the 10th ID  area of responsibility alone.

The latest of which happened on September 03  in Sitio Lantawan, Brgy Napnapan, Pantukan, Compostella Valley Province at about 4:13 AM.

Seven members of the Peace and Development Program (PDOP) team of the 104th Division Recon Company (DRC) became victims of such landmine by members of the New People’s Army (NPA) as alleged by  Major Jake Thaddeus Obligado, 10th ID CMO battalion commander.

Basing on medical examination, Obligado said shrapnel recovered revealed  “the presence of bacteria and possibly a deadly toxin not usually found in steel rebars and nails used as shrapnel”

Camp Panacan Station Hospital surgeon Dr. Victor Dato identified the bacteria as Enterobacter Cloacae and Streptococcus Agalacteiae commonly found in the human intestine.  The Communist Party of the Philippines, however, denied this.

In his presentation in a meeting last Friday, Obligado revealed that 99 became casualties of  the 42 landmine incidents. Of the casualties, 89 were military elements and 10 were civilians.  Among the government troop casualties, 79 were wounded and 10 were killed. Of the civilian casualties, four were wounded and 6 were killed.

Obligado also presented a wider landmine incidents monitoring report covering the Eastern Mindanao Command (East MinCom) AOR where a total of 378 military elements were registered casualties from 2010 to September, 2013. Same type of incident rendered 75 civilian casualties.

Of the government troop casualties, 101 were killed and 277 were wounded. Among the civilian casualties, 27 were killed and 48 were wounded.

The military looks at the use of landmine as “a gross violation” of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) as landmine attacks “endanger lives within 360 degrees radius; worst, it  kills innocent civilians not just military.”

Basing on investigation of previous landmine incidents, Obligado noted that “NPAs emplace their landmines were civilians pass.”

CARHRIHL primer says in Part IV, Article 4, Sec 4 that “Civilian population and civilians shall be treated as such and shall be distinguished from combatants and, together with their property, shall not be the object of attack. They shall likewise be protected against indiscriminate aerial bombardment, strafing, artillery fire, mortar fire, arson, bulldozing and other similar forms of destroying lives and property, from the use of explosives as well as the stockpiling near or in their midst, and the use of chemical and biological weapons.”

In a press release ,  the Communist P art of the Philippines (CPP) says that “The seven AFP troops who were hurt in a bomb blast in Pantukan yesterday were hit by command-detonated explosives and not the falsely reported pressure-type bombs that are banned by international laws like the Ottawa Treaty.”

But Obligado says that  CARHRIHL in  Part III, Article 2, says that “This Agreement seeks to confront, remedy and prevent the most serious human rights violations in terms of civil and political rights, as well as to uphold, protect and promote the full scope of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including: “15.  The right not to be subjected to forced evacuations, food and other forms of economic blockades and indiscriminate bombings, shelling, strafing, gunfire and the use of landmines.”

CAHRIHL  was signed both by the Government of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front on March 16, 1998  in The Hague, The Netherlands.

http://news.pia.gov.ph/index.php?article=1591378797251