[ANALYSIS] The law on landmines and the Masbate killings

  • 📰 rapplerdotcom
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 62 sec. here
  • 3 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 28%
  • Publisher: 86%

Philippines Headlines News

Philippines Latest News,Philippines Headlines

'It behooves the NPA – and we challenge them – to show, to prove, that it can render justice for, and commensurate to, the horrendous willful killing of the Absalons by a guerrilla unit in Masbate.' Read this ThoughtLeaders piece by Soliman M. Santos Jr.

We condole with the family and friends of the victims and join them in calling for justice. The righteous indignation about this landmine incident has invariably included references to violation of the international humanitarian law on landmines and similarly functioning improvised explosive devices .

That there were waiting NPA ambushers is established by the gunshot wounds on the victims, an obvious move to finish them off after the blast. This scenario is consistent with long-time NPA ambush tactics that usually involved the command-detonation of a landmine, often of the anti-vehicle kind, by the waiting ambushers.

In the meantime, even though pending sufficient determination of the kind of landmine or IED used, we can safely say that the NPA definitely committed violations of the IHL on landmines which are punishable as war crimes under Philippine law, R.A. No. 9851 , but for different war crime specifications.

At the R.A. 9851 level, if the landmine used was a victim-activated APM, the corresponding Section 4 war crime is that of “ Employing means of warfare which are prohibited under international law, such as:… Weapons, projectiles and material and methods of warfare which are of the nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering or which are inherently indiscriminate in violation of the international law of armed conflict.

The NPA, however recognizes, among others, the 1998 Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law .

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 4. in PH

Philippines Latest News, Philippines Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Dynamite blast kills village chief, three others in MasbateA dynamite explosion killed the head of Barangay Pajo in Balud, Masbate and three others Tuesday afternoon.
Source: CNN Philippines - 🏆 13. / 63 Read more »

Rappler @rapplerdotcomICC’s Bensouda seeks probe into Duterte's drug war killings | Evening wRap
Source: rapplerdotcom - 🏆 4. / 86 Read more »

Solenn Heussaff, Anne Curtis look like mermaids in a video by Erwan HeussaffThe sisters-in-law look stunning underwater! 🧜‍♀️
Source: gmanetwork - 🏆 12. / 63 Read more »

Solons applaud Bensouda's bid for ICC probe into 'war on drugs' killingsOpposition lawmakers on Tuesday, June 15 applauded the decision of International Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to seek authorization to proceed with an investigation into the alleged the killing of thousands of suspected drug users and pushers in the “war on drugs” campaign of the Duterte Press releases lang. No more no less. Kung sa salitang beki pa, paukyab lang. 🤣🤣🤣
Source: manilabulletin - 🏆 25. / 51 Read more »

Procurement of books, learning materials no longer DepEd's role under the law - solons
Source: manilabulletin - 🏆 25. / 51 Read more »

Sotto to ICC: ‘What about drug groups killings in Mexico, other South American countries?Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III raised this question after outgoing ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda requested judicial authorization to proceed with an investigation on the alleged crimes against humanity committed in the Philippines. | MAgerINQ MAgerINQ Why the hell you are looking at other countries, is there no human rights violations related to drugs in this country? MAgerINQ NANAY: Tito, grounded ka dahil inubos ninyo ng mga dabarkads mo yung itinago kong Pepsi TITO: Nay naman, bakit ako lang? Bakit si Joey hindi grounded? NANAY: Bobo! Hindi ko anak si Joey! MAgerINQ Pinoy ka ba talaga kuya? Hilo na naman ba na parang isda lang sa WPS na kailangang alamin ang nationality?
Source: inquirerdotnet - 🏆 3. / 86 Read more »