The Philippines and Cambodia pledges cooperation to address land mines, recognizing the danger it poses to civilians and communities. INQUIRER STOCK PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines and Cambodia have pledged cooperation to address “pressing matters of illegal mine and explosives usage” which affect both countries.
The Department of National Defense (DND) said its chief, Gilberto Teodoro Jr., and Ambassador of Cambodia to the Philippines Phan Peuv met on Monday to discuss the issue, recognizing the danger it poses to civilians and communities.
Due to previous civil wars, Cambodia is among the world’s most heavily land-mined countries with one of the highest numbers of amputees per capita, while the Philippines still grapples with Maoist guerilla’s routine usage of command-detonated explosives.
“Both officials expressed their concerns over pressing matters of illegal mine and explosives usage and committed to work together against command-detonated mines and Improvised Explosive Device, which affect civilians and communities,” DND spokesperson Arsenio Andolong said in a statement Tuesday.
READ: Cambodia’s landmine-sniffing ‘hero’ rat Magawa dies in retirement
During the meeting, the Cambodian ambassador invited Teodoro to attend the Fifth Review Conference of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Antipersonnel Mines and on Their Destruction, which is also known as “Siem Reap-Angkor Summit on a Mine-Free World.” Phnom Penh will host the conference that will be held from November 25 to 29 this year.
Teodoro, on the other hand, urged the Cambodian envoy to strengthen his country’s cooperation with the Philippines on cybersecurity, and disaster risk reduction, among others.
The Philippines and Cambodia ratified the Convention of Cluster Munitions, an international treaty which prohibits all use, transfer, production, and stockpiling of cluster munitions like landmines.