Summary: The Philippines ratified the convention on 3 January 2019 and became a State Party on 1 July 2019. The Philippines has participated in meetings of the convention. It voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution on the convention in December 2018.

The Philippines states that it has not used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions. It must provide a transparency report for the convention to formally confirm this cluster munition-free status.

Policy

The Republic of the Philippinessigned the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008, ratified on 3 January 2019 and the convention entered into force for the Philippines on 1 July 2019.

The Philippines has not indicated if it plans to enact national legislation to enforce its implementation of the convention. The Philippines stated in 2011 that a standing directive prohibits its armed forces from including cluster munitions in operational requirements. [1] In 2016, it said, “the prohibition on the use of cluster munitions is part of the operational policy of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.” [2]

The Philippines must provide an initial Article 7 transparency measures report for the convention no later than 28 December 2019.

The Philippines actively participated in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions and sought the most comprehensive treaty possible. [3]

The Philippines has participated in every meeting of the convention, most recently the Eighth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2018. [4] It has attended regional workshops on the convention, most recently in Manila, Philippines on 18–19 June 2019. [5]

Prior to ratifying the convention, the Philippines provided States Parties with regular updates on its ratification progress and expressed support for the convention. In 2017, the Philippines said it prioritized the convention “in solidarity with other countries and its communities who have or are suffering from the adverse effects” of cluster munitions. [6]

In December 2018, the Philippines voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution, which urges states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.” [7] The Philippines has voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.

The Philippines elaborated its views on certain important issues relating to the interpretation and implementation of the convention in 2017, when it told States Parties that it “continues to defend its position to prohibit the use, local and foreign stockpiling, investment, production, and transit of cluster munitions in the country.” [8] Previously, 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.” [9]

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

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

The Philippines has stated several times that it has never used, produced, of transferred cluster munitions and possesses no stocks. [10]

A Department of Defense official said in 2014 that the Philippine Air Force made an experimental AFM-M3 cluster bomb unit in the 1990s, but the weapon was never pursued beyond the research phase and never used. [11]

In 2013, the demining NGO Swiss Foundation for Mine Action (Fondation Suisse de Déminage, FSD) destroyed an unexploded nine-kilogram M41A1 fragmentation bomb that the Philippine army cleared from a construction site at Lanang in Davao City. [12]